History's Flames
by CrysNaima
Summary: Formally Shaman King Manga 300: The Disaster of 500 years Semi-sequal to my Shaman King Manga 286. The past ALWAYS comes to haunt you, will Anna's past stop her and Yoh's strong relationship? And how does Hao's past effect them?
1. Protologue

**HEY READERS! IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I LAST WROTE! BUT NOW I AM STARTING TO ONCE AGAIN, YAY!**

**IT MAY TAKE ME LONGER THAN MY LAST STORY TO UPLOAD EACH CHAPTER CAUSE NOT TO MENTION I'VE BEGUN HIGH SCHOOL (YES I'M A FRESHMEN) BUT ALSO I'M ONLY ALLOWED 1 ½ HOURS OF COMPU TIME EACH DAY.**

**YUP BUMMER. BUT I NEVER DISCONTINUE A STORY IF ITS A GOOD ONE. NOW I'M NOT SURE HOW I DID ON THIS STORY BUT I'LL LET YOUR REVIEWS TELL ME THAT.**

**NOT TO WORRY ACTION WILL COME SOON ENOUGH. OH AND IF YOU HAVEN'T READ MY FIRST STORY I'M TELLING YOU IT WOULD BE BEST IF YOU WOULD BECAUSE THIS STORY IS THE SEMI-SEQUAL TO IT (FUNBARI NO UTA 7 WILL BE THE FINAL SEQUAL)**

**HOPE MY FIRST FANS WILL STICK WITH ME ON THIS STORY AS WELL.**

**About History's Flames:**** THIS STORY HAS TWO ARCS. THE _Hoshi No Kissu Arc_ WHICH IS THE STORY ON HAO'S PAST AND THE _Thousand Paper Cranes Arc_ WHICH IS ANNA'S PAST. EVERYTHING ELSE IS A PART OF THE STORY AS A WHOLE. CONFUSING? YES. A GOOD READ? HECK YES.**

**ARIGATOU FOR READING!**

**~~~CrysitaNaima**

* * *

**__****History's Flames:**

* * *

**_Thousand Paper Cranes Arc Protologue;_**

**_Part One_**

_**[Somewhere in the Great Spirit:]**_

A boy is engulfed in a pit of black, his body is crouched as if he were a child in his mother's dark and noiseless womb, naked, about to be born into the world in a way no one would think possible. His eyes awaken, as so does his mind, he blinks several times as if to adjust to the black that surrounds him. He stretches and rises and as he does the darkness around him develops into a vision of fish, ships and many strange things found in marine life.

It shifts once more.

Next he is standing on a beach looking out to the sunset. The warm colors of red, orange, pink, yellow and purple all cover the sky and reflected upon the clouds. The waves crashed in an ethnic rhythm with seemed to fit the beautiful scenery.

He hears a sweet melody with the voice of an angel singing, a soothing voice which seemed as if it could calm all soul of living and dead. Who did the voice belong to? Anyone he knew? Suddenly the voice stops, and all that is around him begins to be sucked into a shining hole in front of him and is replaced by a warm yellow light. His previously naked body was now covered in a white t-shirt and white sweatpants. He looked around, everything that had previously surrounded him was now gone and was replaced by a scene of white, with tiny flakes of golden light falling like snow, and under him is a road of nothing but gold. It's like a happy place that people can only read about in books, a person's Neverland, or their Utopia, only this was reality in the form of what seemed like a dream. It's affect calming the brunette to a sense that he did not realize he was being watched.

"Had a nice nap?" a voice said behind him. He turned around, jerked in surprise really, and saw a beautiful blonde that he knew so well, her slender and fragile looking body sitting on a white cloud, her usually cold amber eyes staring at him with warmth. She brought something to her mouth, a yellow apple, and bit down slowly, her eyes never leaving his figure.

Yoh scratched the back of his head, blinking trying to remember what had happened, then it finally came to him. He turns to her and gives one of his famous grins, that one childish smile that made Anna's heart leap from the sight of it. "Best sleep I've ever had!" he happily responded.

Anna rolled her eyes yet smiled warmly, being used to her fiance's carefree attitude she had been expecting nothing special from his response, "idiot." She muttered softly as she bit once again into the apple, her brows raised themselves slowly, "…are you just going to stand there?"

Yoh looked confused, he looked up and scratched his head thinking before he looked questioningly at Anna "Is there something I'm suppose to do?" he asked sheepishly, worried that Anna would smack him for asking such a question.

Anna sighed, the apple in her hand disappeared, and she jumped of the cloud and began walking towards her fiancé, making him flinch in fear. "I guess you can't be helped" she told him, Yoh calmed down and gave a laughed, Anna gave him an icy glare and his face automatically turned serious, then a questionable look replaced the seriousness of his expression. He looked around before he asked,

"So Anna, where are we?"

Anna gave him an are-you-really-so-dumb look, "You are inside the Great Spirit, idiot."

His eyebrows shot up in response, her answer registering rather quickly in his head, "Wow, really? So now I'm really the Shaman King?"

"No."

Yoh's face fell in confusion, "What?"

Anna turned around and began walking forward "You are not the Shaman King until you save the world from its destruction. Every 500 years the Apocalypse threatens to come, the main job of the Shaman King is to push the date of the Apocalypse further for 500 more years. Of course, no one knows when the disastrous event happens, not even me. We only knows that it tries to occur after 500 years, therefore we have the strongest Shaman in the world, you in other words, prevent it from happening this semi-millennium. When you prove your true soul to the Great Spirit and defend the three worlds then your title will be given."

Yoh began to look serious and thought it through. From the start the young Shaman knew it wasn't going to be easy being the Shaman King. The Shaman King is the World's Messiah. The most important job anyone could think of, right after being Kami that is. But how was he supposed to stop an Apocalypse? And how long would it take? How far would he be away from his friends, his family…Hana…?

Yoh looked up facing Anna's back. She walked with her head down, no signs of emotion showing on her face, as always, but in her eyes he could see her true feelings...worry, plenty of it. He slowly began to realize, the hardest thing for Anna at this moment is to be away from their child. She only was able to spend a day with him, with their only child and now she was stuck here with him. He felt guilt begin to take over the best of him.

"It doesn't matter." she said as she read his thoughts...every word. "Hana will be there when we come back. For now I'm just trying to make sure you keep your promise...I know you won't fail, because out of every shaman in the world I...trust you." She turned away from him as she spoke those last words, no doubt feeling embarrassed.

Yoh smiled to himself, he stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her, as he did so he could feel goosebumps rise on her skin, he held her tightly and buried his face in her sweet smelling hair, his lips touching her neck, "Thanks Anna," he whispered against her skin, causing her to shudder in response. He found himself smiling at her reaction, "So, where are we going, Anna?"

Anna turned to him with a smirk across her face. "Yoh, you've beaten the king of Hell, am I right?" -he nodded-"Good you've visited two of the three worlds already, that leaves only one more to go."

"…two of the three….so we are going to…"

As if reading his mind she nodded, making Yoh's eyes grow wide. "A place where only the Shaman Queen has the key to go to." her smile was now in a sort of smug way as she turned back to the path to take them to the third world. Yoh's eyes widened as he pondered his thoughts, Anna was indeed impressive when it came to her Shaman Queen abilities. What made it even better was the fact that Anna was his Queen, his Anna, his future wife.

"_At least the person waiting for you now wouldn't let you feel lonely…"_

Yoh smiled to himself, Matamune had a point. All the time Yoh had been in the Shaman Fight Anna was right there, with him. And now here she was with him for who knows how long. His Anna.

"Yoh stop spacing out." Anna said angrily, Yoh immediately snapped out of it and paid closer attention to his fiance.

"I will give you details on what you must do. But in the mean time…" she held out her hand towards Yoh "Are you coming with me?"

Yoh grabbed her hand, taking it in his slowly and gently, feeling his warmth flowing into hers till the temperature of both their hands was the same. Anna turned around to look at him, he smiled at her, his gaze held a certain passionate warmth that made her turn away in embarrassment as Yoh held her smooth and fragile hand in his large and strong ones. He turned her body so that it could face him, and pulled her close enough so that he gave her a light peck at her lips, quick like a butterfly kiss, but enough to catch her off guard and just shockingly blink at Yoh as he grin back, "Yes…" he said softly, "I'm coming with you."

* * *

_**History's Flames;**_

_**Chapter One**_

**[Funbari No Onsen]**

"Morning everyone!" Manta yelled as he opened the door to the Asakura house.

There he saw Hao sitting on the couch and Annaka **[A/N: read my previous story if you basically don't know who she is]** lying on the floor eating chips from a plate. Both had a suitcase-like bag near them, and both wearing the uniforms of Shinra Private Academy, Amidamaru and Matamune were close to them.

"Morning Manta-kun…" yawned a slightly sleepy Tamao. In her hands she held Hana who was pretty much the only one of the two who got some sleep.

Manta gave the pink haired girl a smile as he greeted her, "Good morning Tamao-san. Ready to go to school today?" he asked, placing his briefcase on the table closest to him. Trying not to take too much notice of Annaka-san's 'Anna-like' behavior.

"Tamao won't be going to school anymore, Manta-san." A soft voice spoke from the kitchen. Manta turned to look at the owner of the voice. A tall woman with blonde hair that was pulled back into a very low ponytail stood at the entrance to the kitchen, wearing an apron over a blue kimoto with several golden designs. A typical traditional Japanese woman.

Manta took his attention off the woman as Tamao gave a sudden nod, confirming what the woman said. Manta couldn't help but to notice the sadness in her eyes as she explained the situation, " Since Miss Anna left me in charge of Baby Hana I must stay here and take proper care of him. Asanoha-sama will help me in building the Funbari Inn upon Miss Anna's return."

Asanoha smiled, drying her hands on the apron she wore as she turned and looked over at her son before smiling back to Manta "Oyamada be sure to keep a good eye on Asaha (Hao) for me, please."

"Heh, it'd be a good idea if you did. With all those humans around who knows what trouble Mappa Douji will get into," chuckled Ohachiyo as the spirit's body suddenly appeared right next to Hao in the living room.

"Hao is not an idiot. He knows better." Annaka snapped, not taking her eyes off the TV as she defended her husband, "Besides I'm there as well so he won't get into trouble."

Matamune disappeared and reappeared beside Ohachiyo with his pipe in his mouth and arms crossed thinking hard.

"Might as well watch him, Miss Annaka. Remember you two are substituting for Master Yoh and Miss Anna." he replied to them, thinking it all clearly. "If you two were to do anything to cause suspicion we would have to take drastic measure consisting of brainwashing or kidnapping." Manta's mouth dropped in shock, Matamune chuckled as he added that he was joking.

Ryu who was laying against the wall closed his eyes and commented angrily, "To think that Hao is acting like Master Yoh is preposterous! There is no way the two of them can act like Master Yoh and An–" he stopped shortly as he felt a sudden pain in his gut and fell to the floor, both of his hands clutching his stomach tightly.

Everyone looked in that direction to see that it was Annaka who had kicked Ryu. Hard. "Is that Anna enough for you?" she said annoyed with a vain popping out. Opacho and Kanna could help but to snicker or laugh. While Faust went over to help Ryu. The room was silent until Asanoha clapped her hand together once and said "Well why don't you three head on your way to school now?"

Everyone nodded and Manta, Hao and Annaka got their stuff and headed out the door. The three were now just a few blocks away from school yet none of them said a word to each other, for there was nothing to say.

**...**

**MANTA POV**

It's been a week since Yoh slept in the Great Spirit along with Anna. We were all hoping he would come back before then. But no.

I guess in the meantime Hao and Annaka will be replacing the two. Obviously they are the best for the job considering that they each look like them and are in somewhat related.

Annaka, who was revived from 500 years ago, was the Shaman Queen at the last Shaman Fight and was also Hao's wife during the time. Not much is known about what happened back then.

All I know is that after Hao's death, Annaka died but she died after the Shaman King awoke from his sleep (unknown cause of death). Annaka and Hao's kid survived, and through the kid 500 years worth of generations later you get Silva.

But a week ago Anna revived Annaka through some freakish Shaman Queen ability. I guess so Hao wouldn't be lonely, but knowing Anna she might have another reason.

As for Hao, he no longer has his powers so he's more human now and yes he hates it. The only thing is Annaka is somehow able to give him furyoku whenever he needs it to use his shaman abilities. But, supposedly, he is now good but many like Horo Horo and Ryu are not so sure.

I guess soon we might be able to tell…

**...**

**NORMAL POV**

"Oyamada Manta…"

Manta stood up when the teacher called his name for the roll. "Here!" He responded as he took his seat on a pile of thick book which were on top of his chair.

"Good and finally Kyoyama Anna and Asakura Yoh…"

Both Annaka and Hao stood not saying a word the teacher looked at them curiously, as so did many of their classmates, eying them up and down, not knowing as if were really them or maybe they were just shocked to finally see them at school, Manta wasn't sure.

"Well you two have a lot of makeup work to do, along with Oyamada-san. By the way," -he began to ask with a smug look on his face features- "Kyoyama-san tell me why were you all gone for about nine months?" the teacher asked raising a brow at the two after saying how long they had been gone. Everyone raised their brows as well and looked at the two. Manta began to sweat hoping Annaka would say something "Anna-like"

"I believe you could contact Mr. Oyamada for that Sensei, students take no part in excusing their absences, you should know."

The teacher looked at her and flinched at the sound of her remarks as the rest of the class snickered. _'Looks as if I have a smart mouth, great.' _He nodded and turned to write on the chalk board behind him. "You two may sit."

Annaka sat back down, along with Hao who just smirked, leaned back, and closed his eyes. '_Not bad'_ he chuckled to himself. Then he laughed in his head '_Anna's blackmail with Mr. Oyamada comes in well.'_

Manta let out a huge breath he didn't know he was holding in now, he just sat and looked at the teacher. "Well then, let's begin class shall we? Mr. Asakura please read what's on the board."

Hao was fast asleep.

"ASAKURA YOH!"

Hao slowly opened his eyes and looked at the teacher with an almost Yoh-just-waking-up look. The class laughed a bit and Annaka rolled her eyes. "A bit too much like Asakura Yoh" she whispered to herself.

Manta smiled with relief the two were almost exactly like Yoh and Anna. They were defiantly making through the day.

**...**

"Ren." Jun called out in a singing tone.

The Tao was looking around for her brother not being able to find him. She sighed in defeat, "Where could have he gone off to?" she asked herself getting once again worried for her dear little brother.

"Why don't you just leave him alone?" a voice came from the living room behind her.

Jun turned her head to see Macchi sitting on the couch looking at Jun with a blank face. her head rested on her right hand which was placed on her knee.

"When one is angry it is best to let them let out their anger in peace." she continued, ignoring the look of worry in Jun's eyes. Macchi stood and walked past Jun without another word until she reached the door. "That Tao, he cannot yet believe of his loss of the Shaman King title, he lost to Hao-sama, but what kills him more is even though he knew he would, he lost to Asakura Yoh. Now his best friend is going to be gone for an unknown amount of time, so it pisses him off that he is clueless as what to do."

Jun's brows still wrinkled in uncertainty, she took in what the orange-haired Shaman said, but, "I still don't believe one should leave a person alone when they are hurt. My little brother may need some air to breathe but he still needs someone to tell him that his loss was inevitable."

"What's the point of caring about him?"

Jun narrowed her eyes at the young Shaman, she crossed her arms in front of her and said, "Listen hear Macchi, too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring. We Tao's were raised to think destroy or be Destroyed. But how did that help us? It didn't. It's because of Anna-san actually caring about what would happen to you and the other members of your team that lets you be alive today. If not, you'd be food for the Spirit of Fire already. Because Hao sure didn't care what would happen to you. I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance."

Macchi didn't look at the female Tao, instead she turned her back on her and began to walk away, before a spear's sharp end was aimed in front of her. Ren looked at her warily, "I believe my sister was talking to you," he said angrily, Bason appearing right behind him.

The girl narrowed her eyes and pushed passed the Tao, not bothering to answer back. Ren did not hold back his thoughts, "You should be thankful that we let you live here, Hao would've let you out in the streets for all he cares." Macchi left the room silently.

"Ren."

"Don't ever talk about me to strangers again, Jun."

The green haired Tao sighed, her brother was becoming difficult, "Maybe we should pay a visit to Funbari soon? See how the others are doing?"

Ren looked away, "Do whatever you want."

"Aww, you miss your friends."

"URUSAI!"

**...**

"Onii-chan!" the blue haired Ainu yelled out, which was heard throughout the whole village.

"Mari doesn't like noise." Mari stated angrily she was getting tired of Pirika's yelling for her brother.

"But Onii-chan has to get here! He better not be thinking of skipping his day to plant the crops or-"

_**BANG BANG BANG BOOM BOOM BANG BANG BANG BOOM BANG BOOM PAKOW !...**_

Pirika fell back into the ground in shock as Mari began shooting with her gun at the fertilized soil in front of her. Each shot was a part of a perfect row about two inches apart each. And all under what seemed like 20 seconds. Mari stopped and lowered the gun which her puppet held in its hand. She walked over to Pirika who seemed like she was about to die of a heart attack and placed a bag of seeds in front of her. "Mari doesn't like to plant seeds in dirt. Pirika will do it instead so she can be silent."

She dropped the bag to the ground and walked to the wooden temple-like house in which they lived in. At that moment Horo Horo walked past his sister and stopped at the sight of her frightened face. "What scared you out of your pants?" he asked mockingly.

Pirika stood angrily and threw the bag of seeds on Horo's gut making him land on his back. "Don't think you can so easily get out of your duties Onii-chan? Just because the shaman fight is over doesn't mean you don't have other duties! Now get planting!"

_**BANG BANG BANG!**_

Three shots went barely past Pirika and Horo Horo. With their eyes wide they turned their heads to the door of their house.

There stood an annoyed Mari pointing at them with Chuck's gun. "Mari doesn't like loud noises." she slammed the door making a loud sound, which caused yet another three gunshots to sound.

Horo just stared at the door dumbfounded '_Did I miss something here?'_

**...**

"Maiden-sama please be careful. There are many people out there unworthy to be seen by your presence." The young maiden smiled. She giggled a bit at Marco's worries for her.

"Now Marco no need to worry much Lyserg will practically be by her side at every minute in case something will happen." a woman responded with a smile similar to the Maiden's.

The Maiden's Mother Jane pushed both Lyserg and Jeanne out the door. "Enjoy yourselves!" she yelled before shutting the door to Lyserg's apartment. Inside they could hear Marco discussing Jeanne's safety out loud with Jane. Lyserg sweat dropped and looked at the Maiden who was staring at her surroundings.

"This is the first time I am able to go outside without Marco and the X-laws. It feels so good to breathe fresh air." she said looking at the sky above her.

"I guess it's thanks to Jane-sama being able to convince Marco" Lyserg laughed Jeanne nodded and smiled as they both walked down the pavement. They arrived to a huge church where they both entered as they walked down the church to the closest bench of prayer the Maiden began to speak.

"I am grateful to Anna-sama for reviving my mother. I just wish..." tears began to form in her eyes Lyserg looked at her not knowing why the tears started to form. "I just wish she could've also revived the other X-laws as well. So far all the X-laws have left me but you and Marco. I am glad."

Lyserg just looked at her he didn't know what to say. A huge lump formed in his throat. he had something he wanted to say to the Maiden but with what she had just said how could he? He looked up at the statue of the cross before him '_I can't tell her now. she just...she has to know the truth' _He took in a deep breathe and gained courage to look at her "Jeanne-sama.." She turned to look at him curious to know what he wanted to say. "Jeanne-sama...I...I do not wish to be an X-law anymore." there he said it. Jeanne's eyes got wide they just stared at each other, she felt as if everything she had just got blown away by a strong wind. "I... just think our view of things has been wrong...and...I wish to leave The X-laws."

The Maiden looked forward so she wouldn't have to see the seriousness in his eyes. Didn't she just say she was glad that he was with her? then...why? She stared and looked around the church gazing at the beauty of soaring arches, half a dozen statues of saints and well-worn wooden pews. Of the six tall, peaked windows, three of them retained their original stained-glass representations of Jesus in various parables. The other three had been lost over time to vandals, weather, earthquakes, and had been replaced with cheaper abstract-patterned stained glass , "I guess I should be use to people leaving me by now." She silently said, loud enough for only him to hear. She tried to hold back her tears the best she could, wondering if she had enough strength to. "I just didn't think you...you would leave so soon. But if it's what you wish...then... I am no one to stop you." She concluded, giving Lyserg her most understanding smile.

Lyserg bowed and gave her a smile back "Thank you Jeanne-sama...but if you wish I'll stay...a little longer." Jeanne nodded she looked forward at the statue '_thank you' _she said to the one listening to her. They both leaned on a bench to pray, Lyserg with a smile and an ache in his chest. And the Maiden with nothing but tears coming down her eyes.

**...**

"Kalim, why much we watch these tapes of old memories?" Silva asked being nothing but bored at watching the tapes of the Shaman Fight.

Kalim just shrugged and continued watching trying hard not to complain at the tapes which were boring them to death.

"Why must you complain! It's an honor to watch how the Shaman King came to be!" Golva yelled at the two, both Kalim and Shillva fell off their chairs on which they sat, falling straight to the ground.

"There are many interesting fights that occurred for example this one." She pointed to a video archive in the computer and clicked on it, "Ah one of the most interesting battles yet. X-III vs. Team Star! A classic!" Golva went on, getting into the videos a bit too much.

"Grandma Golva look! There's Yoh and Anna in the audience!" Lip yelled in excitement. Rap clapped her hands and began jumping up and down. "There are a lot of weird looking Shaman in this video, Grandma." she said not losing her joyfulness.

Lip nodded with a smile "But the weirdest looking is that person in that black cloak don't you think?"

Silva and Kalim got closer to the screen to see who the two girls talked about. They saw a person with a black cloak on them, it stood beside other cloaked figures. Golva looked as well, eyes widening as she looked at the person closer and closer. "Move out of my way!" She ordered pushing Silva and the others out of the way. She zoomed the video closer to the person's face, there was something familiar about the figure, but the Patch leader could not place her finger on it. She needed to see the person's face.

As if will from the Great Spirits giving her an answer the figure put its hands on its hood and pulled it down. Medium lengths of dark black hair appeared with soft pale skin. The person looked up at the Patch camera as if trying to give its identity away.

"This person...looks like...like..." suddenly a forgotten memory came to her. One which back then she knew would somehow haunt her. "CALL ALL THE PATCHES NOW!" Golva shouted towards the two Patch Officials, "THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!"

Silva looked at the old woman as if she were crazy, "Master Golva, what is it?"

The old woman wrinkled her eyes as she glared at the screen once more, the face stared back at the her, those mocking eyes laughing at her. The old woman hated it, she pointed to the girl, "Look well, Silva. This girl, could be the beginning of the Apocalypse."

**…**

During it all, inside a great mansion far off from the Patch, someone was watching them and their every move that would be handed out. A cloaked person with a girl-like figure watched from a screen the action of the Patch. She smirked a bit, though not changing her blank expression a bit. The light of the TV reflected in her eyes as each scene that had occurred changed infront of her, until it stopped at one scene.

A woman with dark red hair appeared from behind her. She had long tressles of curls that reached past her waistline, she pushed a few back as she went to the girl, "Well? Do we have a deal?"

The girl looked at the Chinese woman, not yet to change her blank expression that was planted on her face, she lowered the hood of her cloak slowly. The girl was beautiful, short medium black hair, amber eyes, pale skin, medium height. And her face was over all familiar, but not in the way one would expect. The gaze she held with the Chinese woman was one that showed she was not so persuaded, if it wasn't for the fact she was bored. "I'll agree." She said without hesitation, "I'll help you get your dead friend's revenge on Asakura Hao. For I believe…that this is all the will of the Great Spirits."

* * *

**_A Thousand Paper Cranes Arc Protologue;_**

**_Part Two_**

Inside the Great Spirit Yoh and Anna were continuing to walk to the third world.

—and the earth moved.

Violent vertigo sent Yoh reeling to the ground, hitting his back hard against the golden pavement, clutching his head. Scents overwhelmed him rich loam, sap, wood smoke. Some essence of a verdant forest, come alive inside her room. Darkness, everywhere, but her eyes were clenched shut—Yoh was afraid to open them, scared she would no longer be within the Great Spirit. Something in his stomach lurched, another premonition. He felt a ghost of movement and heard Anna's voice behind him.

"Yoh stand up." He opened his eyes only to watch, dumbfounded, as sheer black light spiraled through the air in front of him, shimmering in steep waves, a twilight palette of colors stroking air in a menacing aura.

"Anna, is that supposed to be there?"

The Shaman Queen shook her head, feeling herself also confused at the mess in front of her and Yoh. She began to wonder, and the more she came up with a theory the more it made sense and led her to only one possible answer.

The Apocalypse was starting.

* * *

**DON'T. FORGET. TO. REVIEW.**


	2. Everyone Assembles

_**'**__It's because I trust him that I'm waiting here for him'_

_**Shaman King Manga 300: Distaster of the 500 years**_

**In The Great Spirit:**

"Ah, wow I feel great!" Yoh announced as he stretched out his arms.

"That's all you have to say after being able to meet Kami-sama?" Anna asked while raising a brow at her fiancée.

Yoh laughed and scratched the back of his head, then he smiled at her. "There are no words to say, because there are no ways to describe what I just saw."

Anna just stared, her brows not lowering a bit. Yoh sat down on the golden road and stretched out the rest of his body.

"Ah" he began as he laid back "Now all I have to do is wait, for that 'disaster' to come, and get rid of it" he closed his eyes and let the sound of his headphones calm him.

"Idiot, you're too carefree." Anna replied half annoyed and half amused. She turned to look in front of her and took a few steps forward leaving Yoh, on the ground with his eyes closed.

Without noticing that Anna was not beside him anymore the king asked, "Hey Anna, could that feeling we had earlier been part of the disaster about to come?"

There was no answer, Yoh opened his eyes to look for Anna who was out of his sight, they widened at the change around him.

The scene was no longer white; it had miraculously changed into a field of yellow, brown, and green grass. It now had a blue sky whit puffy white clouds that soothed ones soul.

He got up to get a better view of the calm paradise which had appeared. In the middle of it all he saw Anna standing looking up at the clouds with her hand on her chest, on her face a simple look of peace.

he began to walk closer when even so far away from her he could somehow hear her voice, as if it ..were inside his head.

"In the world of nothingness, there is the wind. Faint rays of light, where it sometimes snows, and, a person who has cried all of her tears. myself. How much time has past? It might have already been five years. The one thing I wait for is your voice..."

The grass around him began to move as the wind blew past each piece of grass, the along with the wind came tiny specs of yellow light, little round balls floating as if they were cotton.

Yoh stared in complete awe at the shining lights and looked around him, he looked at Anna who did nothing but stare at the sky. Something was different about her, but ...what?

The wind began to blow harder this time carrying all the mini lights around him and Anna, Yoh looked around ignoring the lights around him and kept his eyes on his fiancée.

The lights came around slowly to her back-side forming a bigger light little by little until it seemed to form wings of light on her back.

For some reason his eyes couldn't part from the scene before him, he looked at the wings for a while longer until they shattered, and everything became...white...

Yoh opened his eyes; they slowly grew from the memories of the scene that "occurred". He placed a hand on his forehead

'Was it a dream?' he asked himself in a low whisper. He lowered his hand from his forehead and placed it on the ground where he felt the soft grass from his dream under his hand.

He looked up where Anna was looking down at him, her face only a few inches away from his.

"Even in the Great Spirit, you're still lazy and carefree." She stated, a bit annoyed by the fact.

"He he, I guess I still am." He replied with his usual calm and carefree grin. Anna rolled her eyes and stood up.

As she did, the glistening lights from Yoh's dream came out from the grass as a small wind past. Yoh stared at them, not taking his eyes away from them.

Anna looked at the look of amazement on her fiancée's face.

"These lights seem strange to you?" she asked him curiously. Yoh turned to look at her and nodded.

"These lights are the many spirits that once had a dream; they bring peace to one's mind, and make many think good memories or memories that will happen. Also many belong to spirits who had a wish that was never fulfilled, which is many of them."

Yoh looked at the lights that surrounded his surroundings. "Lights of memories, and wishes, huh?" he whispered, trying to touch some that where close to him.

* * *

_**Funbari No Onsen:**_

"What do you two want?" Hao asked angrily at the sight of Magna and Namari sitting on the couch of the future Funbari Inn.

_**SMACK**_

Asanoha smack Hao on the back of his head, with a kind grin on her face.

"Asaha, that's no way to treat guests." She said in her usual kind tone.

"That's way besides the point." Annaka replied in Hao's defense, she turned towards the Patches "It has begun, am I right?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Everyone stared at her and the Patch in complete confusion, all except Hao, who sat on the couch beside of him with his arms calmly behind his head.

Magna nodded "we are not completely sure of it, but it may have started."

"The Great Spirit asks for specific shaman to go to America once again." Namari continued for him while he drank some tea.

"I see." She responded. She threw her school bag on the table and sat next to Hao on the couch in front of the Patch. For a minute everything was completely silent, until Manta broke it.

"AHH! I don't understand what is happening here!" He yelled shaking his head rapidly back and forth.

"Shut up" Annaka ordered. Manta did as he was told. "It's nothing big to fuss at."

"What is coming is the battle between the three worlds." Hao began.

Tamao held baby Hana tighter and closer to her. "Th-Three… worlds?" she asked, making the tone of worry in her voice obvious to everyone around her.

"Heaven, Man, and Hell" Hao responded in a calm matter with his hands behind his head.

"Heaven, Man, and Hell?" asked Horo Horo looking confused as he stared at Kalim who was also talking about the battle of the three worlds.

Kalim nodded "_**idai na tatakai. **_It happens every 500 years while the Shaman King slumbers within the Great Spirit.

Pirika looked up at Kalim after taking a peek at her brother's oracle bell. "but, I thought the disaster of the world happened after the Shaman King sleeps" she stated.

Kalim scratched the back of his head "I guess each case is different for each king, history changes after all, right?"

"Liar."

They all turned to see Mari with her arms crossed in front of her, she took slow steps to get closer to them.

"Mari thinks you're hiding something," she took out Chuck with his gun in his hand and pointed it towards Kalim. "tell Mari what you are hiding"

**...**

"What are you hiding from me?" an angry Tao said holding his spear out a few inches away from Nichrome's face.

"What ever do you mean, Tao Ren? There is nothing to hide at all" Nichrome replied in his usual calm self.

Macchi and Jun stood each beside Ren. Macchi had her broom on her shoulders just staring at an angry Tao; she then walked forward to Nichrome.

"Hey Nichrome, Ren-kun doesn't seem to be buying your lies so why not tell the truth, eh?"

"Oh, so you don't believe me either, Macchi-Chan? I was sure I was pretty convincing." Nichrome replied smiling all the way.

"You're just not so easy to believe." Laughed Jun

"I wouldn't believe you even if you were telling the truth, but let's just see how much of the truth you can tell."

**...**

Jeanne sat at the church praying silently, with not a single noise around her.

Lyserg just stared at her as she calmly and silently prayed; he then heard the doors of the church slam open, with a huge blow of wind entering the church.

Jeanne placed her hands on her lap and without having to look back she seriously said "You come to bring news on Yoh-sama and Anna-sama, Shilva?"

Shilva walked towards them, not saying a word he sat down, and then he began to explain.

"I am not here to lie to you two, the flow of the Great Spirit has been acting strangely in great ways. We Patch ask you two to come to America."

"Why must we go?" Lyserg asked.

"The teams that went on to the final round of the Shaman Fight were called up, we believe that someone is causing the _**idai na tatakai **_to come earlier than it's time, so early that it's purpose may be to destroy the Shaman Throne in their sleep, or erase their souls for life."

**...**

"Why would someone want to do that to Danna!" Ryu shouted out angrily.

Hao shrugged his shoulders, not bothering to hear the rest of the explanations given.

" Well I'm not going to stand here and let someone do that to Danna!" He yelled out, grabbing his wooden sword and heading out the door.

"Idiot, you have no clue where to go." Annaka coldly replied making Ryu freeze in place, realizing that she was right.

Manta and Tamao sweat dropped, at Ryu being so clueless, while Asanoha giggled, and Faust.

"Either way looks like we're taking a trip to America." Hao announced as he stood up and began to walk up the stairs.

Everyone looked at him in total shock.

"You're kidding, right Hao-sama?" Kanna asked her highly respected Lord Hao.

Hao turned to them raising a brow, "why would I be? If it gets me out of school I'm fine with it." He said with a Yoh-like grin.

Everyone in the room sweat dropped and fell to the ground in disbelief.

'_I guess some people just don't have their differences when it comes to school.' _Manta thought implying that Yoh and Hao both had similar thoughts when it came to school.

Tamao stood with Hana sound asleep in her arms, she headed for the kitchen, where she looked out the window avoiding the sounds/yells behind her.

She became lost in her own thoughts. '_Yoh-sama I may be able to see you again_, _that would surely make me happy. And maybe I could…'_

She shook her head to get away from those thoughts boiling in her head about her precious Yoh-sama.

"What I am thinking?" She asked herself silently "Yoh-sama belongs to Anna-sama" tears began forming in her eyes.

She slowly wiped them off, and decided to go put Hana in his bed. After she did that she went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

"Bad thoughts disturbing you Tamao?" she heard a voice asked her from behind.

She turned and saw Annaka looking at her, with Ryu right behind her.

"Annaka-sama! Um, no not really…I'm just…um."

"Don't try to lie to me, Tamamura." The blond coldly ordered, "Not like it's even possible." Annoyed she left the kitchen leaving Ryu with Tamao. "Don't worry, Tamao-chan, I have wishes to see Danna too." Ryu excitedly announced to her.

The blood suddenly rushed to Tamao's face, not of her usual embarrassment, not because of her usual reasons, but because…because…because no one had wishes to see 'her' Yoh like she did.

And for once in her life the young pink-haired shaman said it. "You don't want to see him as much as I do!" she yelled out.

Realizing what she'd just done she covered her mouth looked in Ryu's direction and saw not only his face of shock but also of all the others who sat in the Asakura living room.

Now her face was burning from embarrassment "Gomen!" she shouted and with her hands still around her mouth she ran up the stairs to her bedroom, with Ponchi and Konchi chasing after her.

No one in the living room moved, there was complete silence until it was broken by Kanna.

"Looks like that girl has a backbone after all," she said while taking her cigarette out of her mouth.

Part of Hao was surprised, (part) the other part was half amused.

"well every pink rose does have it's thorns you know." He said in a joking matter.

He then stood up and stretched his arms out, and then he placed his hands in his pockets and said "Well I'm off to pack, got nothing better to do so I might as well." With that said he started up the stairs, as well.

Annaka watched him go, she stood and walked over to the kitchen.

"*sigh* the dishes are still needed to be washed." She said to herself, she shrugged her shoulders, "When in Rome…"

"HEY, OYAMADA! GET A STOOL; THE DISHES ARE NEEDED TO BE WASHED!"

Manta shuddered at Annaka's bossy Anna-like tone. _'I think Annaka is taking this whole act like Anna thin a bit too seriously.'_ He thought to himself.

But maybe for once in his life, he could probably stand up to someone, Annaka does look a lot like Anna, besides the red eyes and long hair, but the rest was the same. Maybe he could use Annaka as a way to practice standing up to Anna! Maybe…maybe…

"OYAMADA!"

He…he, who was he kidding? Annaka is Anna's incarnated spirit through the Patch spirit of the Shaman Queen. So in other words Annaka is not like Anna, Anna is Annaka.

So once again who was he kidding?

**...**

"REN-KUN, YOU'RE NOT GOING!" yelled a very unhappy/sad Macchi.

Ren was getting ready with his stuff to leave and head to the Funbari Inn where he would meet the others.

Macchi was standing at the enormous doorway to the Tao's house; she covered the door with her broom. In front of her stood a very annoyed Tao Ren, behind him was Jun smiling away sheepishly.

Ren now had his hands formed into a tight fist; he tried hard to keep him temper down, but the orange haired shaman has been making that way too difficult the past 15 minutes.

"Jun, could you…move her out of the way." The Tao said to his 'beloved' sister, but he made it sound more like an order than a request.

Jun just smiled away at her little brother "I'm sorry Ren, I just don't think there's anything I can do." She told him in an evil/maniacal tone.

"Curse you." He said under his breathe. He turned to Macchi, who's expression had suddenly changed. She had the tearful and frightful look she had on her face as she did when Hanagumi was taken away from Hao after he tried to devour their souls.

"I want to go too," she stated in a shaky voice "I want to see Hao-sama, I haven't seen him in a while."

Ren rolled his eyes; he looked at Jun who had that you-have-no-good-way-to-treat-a-girl look on her face.

The Tao sent her a glare, and faced Macchi once more, he lowered his head, trying so hard to keep down all the anger he had bubbling up inside him.

Not knowing the consequences he said the first thing that had popped into his head.

"It's only been a week since the last time you saw him at Mu." He viciously said trying to sound as calm as possible but making hard when his teeth were clenched together.

Finally he looked up at the pumpkin-loving shaman only to see her shaking even more but now she was shaking in anger and sadness.

"A week is too long away from Hao-sama!" she yelled out her voice shivering and shaking trying to hide back the tears.

Ren just looked at her, he could do nothing more. Bason appeared beside him, feeling a bit of sympathy for the girl.

"Bochima, maybe she could just come with us..." Ren gave him a cold look and Bason immediately added, "-but…only until we get to the Funbari Onsens, then maybe she could stay there until our return!"

Ren sighed. This argument was going nowhere unless he would agree, he knew that for sure. Finally the hardheaded Tao admitted defeat.

"Fine, but only until we get to Yoh's house." He stated.

Macchi's expression changed in those few seconds. She jumped up and perked up in excitement, next second you see her _hanging_ off of Ren.

She looked like a hyper koala hanging on tightly to a tree. With her arms and legs wrapped around him and her head on his chest.

"Thank you, Ren-kun!" the hanging Macchi told him.

Ren was in complete shock. He was frozen in place, not to mention the blood rushed to his head immediately as she had jumped on him.

Jun couldn't help but to begin laughing out loud, she laughed ad she laughed hard.

That had brought Ren back to his senses, he looked at Macchi, still with his radiant red face.

"Idiot, what do you think your doing!" he sputtered. Macchi of course responded with the most obvious answer.

"What does it look like? I'm hugging Ren-kun!" she joyfully announced.

Nevertheless all Jun did was smile at Macchi's response. She listened with a smile and then stood and clapped her hands together when she finished. "Well I guess I'll leave you two alone."

Ren immediately reddened his face even more as he sputtered, "Where do you think your going!"

Jun turned to her little brother, with an innocent look on her face, "Well if Macchi-chan gets to go I believe I have just of a right to go as well. So I'm off to pack!" she happily stated.

Ren froze. That couldn't be good. He had to stop her—

He took a few steps forward then fell back with Macchi still grabbing on. He was no longer mad no now his temper was about to be loose!

Then out of the corner of his eye, before his calmness left him, he saw Bason slowly 'tiptoeing' away from his furious Master and the 'koala' that held on to him tight

Ren closed his eyes, extremely annoyed with Bason. "Bason..." warned Ren.

The Chinese warrior stopped dead in his tracks and floated back to his master, defeated.

**...**

"Well, I'm off!" an excited blue-haired shaman announced to all in his house.

"Onichan! That's unfair, why do you get to go to Anna's on your own!" his sister asked him demanding to know an answer.

Horohoro sighed he had just finished going over that, but obviously Pirika hadn't been paying a bit of attention.

"Pirika, I just went over that. I told you-"

"Either way I'm still going! I'm even pack so-"

"KYAAAAA!"

Both the Ainus jumped at the sound of the loud screech they had just heard. They turned to wear the shriek had come from, and in came Mari running through the door in a short black kimono.

She ran up and hid behind the two Ainus who had stopped their fighting to see Mari with total curiosity. Mari didn't dare look at them; she just covered her face with both her hands and was shaking…hard.

"Mari? What's wrong?" Questioned the female Ainu, not being able to think of a single thing that would scare Marion Phauna.

Mari didn't move or say a word she stayed like that as if she were a statue. Even when Kororo got extremely close to her she did not move.

Horohoro thought for a while, even if it made his head hurt a bit he still thought of a way to make her talk.

He bent down to her level with a mighty mischievous grin on his face. "You know, if you're going to wear a kimono that short you should probably not bend over where everyone can see your undergarments."

Pirika looked at her brother in shock. She would have never thought that even her own brother would be dumb enough to say something like that to a girl, but worst of all to Mari.

Mari quickly stood up, her hands covering the back of her kimono, her face was now a light pink color, and she was looking at the ground.

"Mari thinks Horohoro…is a hentai." She angrily stated.

'_Ha, she talked'_ Horo proudly announced in his head, he was proud that one of his strategies worked once in a while.

"Now are you going to tell us what you yelled for?" He asked her hopping he could get this over with so he could leave.

Mari face did not rise anymore than it was, and her face never changed its pinkish color.

She muttered something that no one could hear, they asked her again, this time she responded a bit louder.

"Marichucknyacatchan." She claimed rapidly that they were only able to hear the 'Nya' in the sentence.

Pirika put her index finger over her mouth and looked up at the ceiling of the house. "Nya?...Nya? Hmm…"

"Nya" came a little noise from a corner they all turned to the corner and saw a little white kitten with red eyes walking over to them.

Pirika completely sweat dropped in disbelief. A cat?

"Mari…you're scared of -"

"A cat! Hahahaha! You're scared of a fluffy white animal! Ha-ha!" Horo fell to the ground laughing so hard tears were coming down.

Mari was now tomato red, her hands were clutched in fists, she looked at Horohoro, then at the cat. She slowly sat on her knees and hid behind Horohoro who was now sitting up, wiping the tears off his face.

"Mari…can't help it. He...it…murdered Chuck!" She blurted out, now hiding herself even more from the cat.

Pirika, still not believing that a kitten could 'murder' a spirit, shook her head. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it after seeing something move out of the corner of her eye.

"OH MY KAMI-SAMA! WHAT IS THAT?" She shouted as she saw a bottom half of a doll wobbling on its own with the stuffing coming out with each step.

And behind it came the upper half of a doll missing an arm along with an eye, carrying a gun.

Pirika was now also hiding behind her brother. After the body came into the light they realized it was Chuck, who aimed its gun towards the cat.

There was complete silence while Chuck carefully aimed at the cat, at least there was until…a furious Usui Oyaji also joined the commotion.

"WHAT'S WITH ALL THE NOISE!"

_**BAMMM!**_

"_NYA!"_

_**ching! *claw***_

"AHHHGG! He's on my pants!"

_***RIPP!***_

"KKYYAAA! MARI KNEW! HOROHORO, HENTAI!" – "ONICHAN!"

_**BANG, BAM, BOOSH, CRASH,**_

Everything happened in a heart beat, the scene completely changed from a few seconds ago.

The Usui house wall and ceiling was now filled with many holes, craters, cracks…ect.

Horohoro was now on the ground after he had fallen from tripping over his pants, which the cat had seemed to rip.

Mari was on her knees again covering her face while Chuck's upper half patted her softly on her back.

Pirika and Oyaji just stood there, not being able to believe what had just happened.

Oyaji looked furious he took a few steps forward and picked up the cat and let him out the door. He then looked at the mess the young shaman made.

"It'll take me forever to fix the mess you all have made," He replied, closing his eyes in anger. "But maybe it'll be faster if you are all not here to disturb me."

He looked at Horo who still sat on the floor with a look of total confusion on his face.

"GET UP AND PUT SOME PANTS ON YOU STUPID SON!" he yelled at him, Horo came back from reality and did as he was told.

When he came back, with some new pants, Oyaji looked at him then at the girls, he then announced-

"Horokeu, since I won't be able to finish fixing the mess ya'll made fast enough you're taking the girls with you. That's an order." With that said he went back to the room from which he came from to begin with.

Horo just stood there with his jaw wide open, and then finally words came out of his mouth.

"DAMMIT!"

**...**

"Well Mic, here we are….jail. *sigh* it seems so hard to turn myself in, who knows how long I'm going to be locked up in there." Stated a scared, no, terrified Chocolove.

He had return to New York had had decided it was time to pay for all the lives he killed, but now, as he stood in front of the huge dark cement walls, he began to have doubts…lots of them.

Avaf had appeared beside him, scaring him out of his wits.

"What are you standing out here for? Hurry up and turn yourself in!" He yelled impatiently waiting for his dimwitted 'master' to hurry up and get it over with.

Chocolove sighed again, he then sweat dropped saying "I'm starting to think this wasn't a good idea…I don't want to spend who knows how long in a place like this."

He pointed to the old, almost broken down, and rusted building. Avaf and Mic took a good look at it; it truly was most definitely the ugliest building they'd ever seen.

Avaf cleared his throat deeply and responded "Well your old self brought this upon yourself, and you have to pay the price. Jail is not supposed to be enjoyable you know."

Chocolove looked as if he was going to drop on the floor crying, but he decided not to.

" *sigh* well I guess I might as well get this over with." He stood up straight and tall like a soldier, "Well then let's-"

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

The shaman froze in place and searched for the peeping sound it came from his oracle bell, "Huh? Why is my oracle bell ringing?" He pulled backhis sleeve to read the message.

"Look up. Look up?" he did as told and saw two big feet coming down from the sky, getting closer and closer and…

_**CRASH!**_

On top of the poor comedian stood none other than a Patch, but not just any Patch, but Chrome.

He had his eyes closed and arms crossed out in front of him, he stood tall not noticing who he stood tall on.

"Chocolove McDonell, your presence is required in America along with the rest of team Ren. You will meet at the home of the Asakuras' and go with them from there. Understood?"

"…."

Chrome opened his eyes and looked around, the dark shaman was no where to be found.

"Chocolove McDonell?" He asked. Avaf and Mic both appeared in front of him Avaf cleared him throat and pointed under him, while Mic looked down.

Chrome looked down as well only to see he was standing on top of the dark shaman's body.

"Oh, my apologies McDonell-san." He said stepping off the clobbered shaman.

Chocolove painfully got up and stretched while stating "Its not prob. Besides you've even popped my back! I've been having back pains for a while now!"

Avaf and Mic sweat dropped while Chrome looked serious then blurted out laughter which he was trying hard to hold in.

Chocolove cried tears of joy "He laughed at one of my jokes!" he happily said to himself.

"That's unbelievable." Stated the floating Inca spirit, while Mic nodded.

"Now," the Inca began, "finish telling us what you were announcing." He ordered the Patch.

"Of course…." He began to explain all of what had been explained to the other, while Chocolove and the other two spirits listened carefully to know what they were being sent into. When he was done explaining Chocolove thought for a while then took a few steps back and said "Well then we're off to Yoh's house!"

Avaf's mouth dropped "What about prison!"

"I'll come do my time later, it's time to go help Yoh for once. Lets go Mic!"

with that said the dark shaman ran back happily to get ready to meet up with his old friends.

**...**

Jane, Jeanne and Lyserg all sat quietly on the couch, waiting for Marco to give his response to go to America.

"Marco, there's really not much to think about, why not say yes?" asked the Maiden's mother, trying to get her daughter's 'protector' to agree in letting team X-I go.

"I will not give such an easy response to a mission dangerous to the fair maiden!" the blond shaman loudly stated while pulling his glasses up to his nose.

A drop of sweat came down Lyserg's forehead, "but Marco… its only a yes or no question."

Marco sighed he looked at Jeanne, who smiled calmly at him, then he sighed, "I am not willing to put you two in danger again and due to the fact Lyserg just quit the X-Laws, we are not qualified to join in with the others as team X-I."

Jane got up her hands were in the form of fists her long blue bangs covered her eyes, but yet the others felt a dark aura that they knew…she was mad.

"I will not allow my niece to be killed along with my future nephew-in-law. So I will be making the decision, got it!"

**{A FEW MINUTES LATER…. :D}**

"he, he. I would have never thought Jane-sama would have a mean bone in her body." Lyserg said from the back of Marco's oversouled car, as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

Jeanne, who sat beside him, smiled for she'd never seen that side of her mom either.

Marco pushed his glasses upward with one hand as he drove on. "Now do not talk about Jane-sama behind her back."

"That really is not nice." Jane stated looking from behind her to where Lyserg and Jeanne were seating.

"Now are you two ready?" she asked the with a smile.

They both nodded, "we're ready. Ready…"

**...**

"Are you ready, Ren?" a sweet Jun had said with her most innocent look yet.

Ren frowned and looked away, "I've been ready, since I was about to leave."

"I'm ready too!" Macchi announced holding her broom in her hands.

Ren turned to look out to the dark night sky which sparkled lightly with the help of the luminous stars that floated around in it.

"let's go Bason," he ordered. Bason appeared beside his master and followed him and the girls out the door, as his small but great Master thought in his head:

'_We're all ready…'_

**...**

"Could you two hurry up?" an angry Ainu shaman asked impatiently towards his little sister and Mari.

Pirika and Mari came in carrying huge bags each and threw them to the ground, they fell with a loud _**THUMP **_on the ground.

"Okay, we're ready Onii-chan!" she announced excitedly, she looked at her brother who only held a small book bag in his hands.

"Onii-chan, are you sure you're ready?" she asked him referring to him not taking so many things for the trip.

"Heh, you're really asking me that question?"

Horohoro closed his eyes and looked out the door. A blanket of snow had covered his village, and the light of the moon reflected the flakes that were on the ground. It made one be lost in their thoughts, such as Horo was now.

'_Of course I'm ready…'_

**...**

"Okay you two," Chocolove began to announce "prison can wait until I finish saving Yoh, but in the meantime…" he slung his bag over his shoulder.

"I'm as ready as the others."

**...**

The long haired brunette started off into the black sky which was filled by the usual lights of white flakes called stars. It was amazing how just the sight of these lights gave even Asakura Hao something to make him be lost in his thoughts as well.

"What are you doing?" an icy voice had asked him disturbing.

Even though he didn't need to, the Asakura turned to see his wife [yea wife. Read my writers note at the end to understand if you don't] standing beside him, her arms crossed, and an Anna-like look on her face.

She had just changed out of her school uniform and wore a black jumper dress that came down to her a little more above knee high, with white knee-high socks that showed only about two inches of skin from the dress to the top of the socks.

Her golden blond hair was similar to Anna's, but Annaka's came down past her waist, and she wore no shoes.

Hao looked at her for a bit as she sat down beside him, not even scared of the fact that maybe one of them would wall off the roof.

"You didn't answer my Question, Hao." She said impatiently.

"Lying here, under the starry sky, makes sorting out my thoughts much easier. It's more comfortable up here. You should know that, seeing as you use to watch the sky with me five-hundred years ago." He said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"True, but even though I can also read minds doesn't make it any easier to understand you." She told him. "But I know you're thinking of Yoh-san."

"I'm not the only one who is. Teams X-I, The Ren, and the others are as well. They are all saying the same thing. 'I am ready'."

Annaka looked at him a bit confused. "Ready for what?"

Hao smiled and while he said these words the others from far away who were coming all said:

"Ready to see Yoh."

* * *

**YAY CH.2 DONE!**

**FEW AND IT ONLY TOOK ME A WEEK TO WRITE!**

**WELL I DO ONLY GET 2HRS OF COMPUTER ON SCHOOL DAYS N AN EXTRA HR ON WEEK DAYS.**

**BUT I'M PROUD!**

**OKAY NOW FOR THE EXPLANIATIONS BEHIND ANNAKA AND JANE.**

_**ABOUT JANE**_

_**JANE IS ANNA'S AUNT. SHE IS ALSO THE HOLY GIRL IRON MAIDEN JEANNE'S MOTHER. SHE HAS THE ABILITY TO CONTROL ICE AND SNOW HOWEVER SHE PLEASES, AND TALKS ALMOST LIKE THE IRON MAIDEN. THE IRON MAIDEN FIRST FINDS OUT ABOUT HER MOTHER IN CHAPTER 3 OF MY PREVIOUS STORY **__**SHAMAN KING MANGA CH.286**__** WHEN ANNA SAYS **_"a question most people ask me is who I really am…I will tell you who I am, Jeanne. And also who you are as well…"_**THEN FINALLY GETS TO MEET HER IN CHAPTER 8. IN OTHER WORDS ANNA AND JEANNE ARE COUSINS IT IS REVIELED IN A VISION YOH HAS THAT JANE WAS THE ONE TO DECIDE THAT HUMANS SHOULD RAISE ANNA IN ORDER FOR HAO NOT TO FIND HER. JANE IS ONE OF THE FEW THAT KNOW ABOUT ANNA'S SECRET OF BEING SHAMAN QUEEN(B/C SHES FAMILY DUH!)ITS DUE TO THE REASON THAT SHE WAS A PATCH. SHE ALSO SEEMS TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE AND LISTEN TO FAR AWAY CONVERSATIONS.**_

_**ANNAKA**_

_**OKAY THIS CHARACTER IS A LITTLE HARD TO EXPLAIN. THE WIKIPEDIA SAYS DURING HAO'S SECOND LIFE WHEN HE WAS A PATCH AND HAD A WIFE. ANNAKA IS HIS WIFE FROM 500 YRS AGO, BUT SHE'S ALSO THE SHAMAN QUEEN OF HER TIME. SHE EVEN HAD A CHILD OF HIS AT THAT TIME. SHE LOOKS TONS LIKE ANNA BESIDES HER RED EYES AND BELOW WAIST-LINE HAIR. HER CLOTHING WAS REVEALED IN THIS CHAPTER WHICH IS SIMILAR TO ANNA'S FALL OUTFIT IN THE MANGA, EXCEPT INSTEAD OF A TURTLE NECK DRESS, SHE WEARS A JUMPER DRESS. ANNAKA WAS BROUGHT INTO THIS TIME BY ANNA WHO SUMMOND HER SPIRIT AND ASANOHA'S ALONG WITH OTHERS LIKE ANOHOL'S BROTHER, AND CHROME, PLUS JANE AND WAS ABLE TO RETURN THEIR SPIRITS TO THEIR OLD BODIES. THE THINK WITH ANNAKA THOUGH IS SHE DIED AT AN OLDER AGE THEN SHE IS NOW, SO ANNA HAD TO DO SOME 'MODIFICATIONS' TO HER BODY TO MAKE HER AROUND THE AGE HAO IS NOW.**_

**OKAY NOW I KNOW SOME STUFF IS A BIT CONFUSING AND I DON'T REALLY WANT TO SPOIL THE STORY BUT…..****GOMEN!**

**IF U DON'T WANT SPOILERS DO NOT READ WHATS UNDER THIS SECTION.**

**[U HAV BEEN WARNED]**

**OKAY BEFORE I WANTED TO START ON M ENDING FOR FUNBARI NO UTA, I WANTED TO DO LIKE A LITTLE CENTER STORY THAT TELLS WHY ANNA N YOH WERE AWAY FOR 6 YRS, AND WHY IS TAMAO SO MUCH LIKE ANNA 6YRS LATER. SO THIS IS A MID-SEQUAL TO MY PREVIOUS STORY, BUT SINCE SO MANY WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ANNAKA AND HAO 5OO YRS AGO THAT WILL BE INCLUDED :D**

**PLUS WE GET TO FIND OUT ABOUT ANNA'S LIFE BEFORE SHE MET YOH.**

**I'M VERY EXCITED OF THIS STORY! WISH ME LUCK N I HOPE U eNJOY IT!**

_**-Crystel Hidalgo/ YohAnna4eva**_


	3. To Know The Past

**EVENTUALLY THESE CHAPTERS WILL GET LONGER. ****ITS JUST I'M TRYING TO TAKE IT SLOW. ****AND ALSO IT'S REALLY HARD TO FIND A GOOD STOPPING PLACE YOU KNOW. ****IT MAKES ME MAD HOW ON A WORD DOCUMENT IT SAYS I'VE WRITEN 18 PAGES BUT ON THE FANICTION WEBSITE IT LOOKS LIKE I WROTE 8.**

**I'M GLAD TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE ARE REVIEWING MY STORY. IT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY! I DIDNT THINK MY STORIES WOULD GET SO MUCH ATTENTION, I WAS WRITTING BECAUSE I LOVE TO DO IT. BUT TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE LOVE MY STORY, IT LEADS ME TO WRITE MORE. AND I'M ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO ASK "WHAT DO MY READERS WANT?" "WOULD THIS MAKE MY READERS SATISFIED?"**

**OF COURSE SINCE I HAVE A LIFE THOUGH, IT TAKES ME A WHILE TO UPDATE BUT I TRY TO MAKE THE WAIT WORTH IT. NOT THAT I MAKE YOU WAIT ON PURPOSE OR ANYTHING...OR DO I? BWAHAHAH. KIDDING HAHA. I KNOW, NOT FUNNY. WELL ENOUGH OF MY AUTHOR'S NOTE. READ THE STORY!**

**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!**

**~CrysitaNaima**

* * *

**_History's Flames;_**

* * *

**_A Thousand Paper Cranes Arc Protologue;_**

**_Part Four_**

"Wah! There's nothing to do!" Yoh yelled out. It has only been a few minutes since Anna has explained to him about the lights that constantly flew across the air, and he had nothing to do.

Anna rolled her eyes, she had been reading a book, which she had made appear a while ago, Yoh on the other hand didn't get the fact that in the Great Spirit you can have anything you want. She held out her hand towards him, "Here." She said. A warm yellow light formed in her hand and started to form in some square shaped figure, Yoh moved his head closer to see what it was. It was a SOUL BOB CD.

Yoh's jaw almost dropped to the ground, Anna handing him a SOUL BOB CD was…unbelievable. He looked at her, and she turned her head away, hiding the strokes of pink that were slowly forming on her cheeks. "You said you were bored, didn't you?"

Yoh took the CD out of her hand; he looked at her and gave her a wide smile. "Thanks Anna." He said to her.

Anna automatically stood up and began to walk, "I'm going for a walk," she announced, "Do what you wish…even talk to the spirit balls, if you want." With that she walked off, leaving Yoh completely clueless.

He looked at one of the little floating balls, squinting as he said, "And what?" he asked himself, "Are you supposed to keep me entertained or something?"

A sudden child-like voice interrupted his outer thoughts, "If you want," Yoh looked at one of the balls of yellow light that Anna had told him about earlier. He blinked several times before his mind processed everything slowly…

"WAHHHH!" he yelled falling back to the ground before suddenly standing and pointing to the ball "Y-you can talk?" He asked in shock, scooting back a few inches.

"Hai~~ But only when Queen-sama lets us. But usually Queen-sama doesn't like us to talk." Responded another little orb.

"She's scary so we do what she says."

"Yup."

"Speaking of Queen-sama," said another one with a more mature voice, from the sound of him he could've been around Yoh's age. The light approached Yoh slowly, making all the others wonder what we was about to say. "So what do _you_ think of Anna-sama, King-sama?" the voice finished asking, if he had a body he knew he would enjoy the sight of Yoh blushing beet red. "I know she's beautiful." It continued. "But how's her figure? I mean you two did have a kid, so you should know."

The young Shaman King hung his head down in embarrassment, "Yeah." he admitted, "She's…gorgeous." A faint pink tint began adding itself to his cheeks as memories of that night came slowly into head. One by one those thoughts began to take over his head. Yoh had never blushed so hard in his life, from just simple thoughts! But yet, in some strange, twisted way, he knew those thoughts were not simple thoughts.

"I never would've thought there would be such perverted spirits here."

Yoh stopped, dead frozen as he heard the sounds of knuckles cracking behind him, and he turned to see a furious Anna that reminded him why he was so fearful of her.

"Asakura. Yoh." was all that Yoh heard before she raised her hand in the air in mid-slap, but, to both their surprise, as her hand came down for the impact on his cheek Yoh's hand had caught hers just in time.

Both their eyes widened, but not as big as Yoh's got, the brunette was shocked, no mortified, how was he suddenly able to stop Anna's slap?

Everything was completely silent but the wind softly blowing threw the tall grass that was around them.

"Oh. My. Holy. Shit." Muttered the Shaman Queen in shock.

She slowly took a step back, but slipped on a rock that was right under her sandal, and fell back bringing Yoh down with her. Yoh was able to stop his fall with his hands, but when he opened his eyes his body was right over Anna's. Instead of immediately getting off Yoh was frozen in place, he didn't move, he couldn't move, he just stayed in his place.

At that time Anna could have slapped him.

She could have kicked him in the crotch.

She could have punched him.

But instead she closed her eyes and said "Yoh. Get. Off." Her tone didn't sound annoyed or angry, or anything, it was just an order. Yoh snapped back to reality and hurriedly got off and sat up, he looked at his fiancé with a look of apology.

Anna stayed lying on the ground and turned sideways. "I'm going to rest a while," she told him, "try not to interrupt."

Yoh nodded. He stayed completely silent, not saying a word. But instead he began to think.

What was going on with him?

For the longest period of time Yoh kept his gaze up at the sky, then at the grass, he turned to his left and his gaze fell towards his lovely fiancé's sleeping figure that laid so comfortably on the grass

Her smooth delicate features across her peachish-pale skin never contrasted against her composed amber hair, such polished fairness that she could be called the incarnation of beauty. He studied her face a bit more; he had never noticed how peaceful her face was when she slept. Now that he thought about it, when had Anna's face been so peaceful? Every time he saw her she always had on her blank, emotionless face. Other times he'd seen her cry a few times, he'd seen pain, and fear, but not once had he seen her with such peace.

"Maybe," he whispered to himself as he moved a lock of her golden hair out of her face, "I'll never be able to really know you."

Anna moved a bit and her body got closer to him, so close that her forehead was now resting on his chest, while the rest of her body touched his. He gently ran his fingers constantly through her hair. He sighed; the last time that Anna had been that close to him was the night before he left to America.

The one night he had announced his feelings for her and the one night where she took off her mask.

'_Her mask,'_ Yoh thought to himself, _'I sometimes wonder…'_he looked down at her and placed one of his arms under his head the other around Anna's sleeping body. "Has there ever been a time where Anna would smile constantly? If so…then what happened to make her cover her true self?" he began to think out loud.

*sigh* knowing Anna she probably would never tell him of her past, even if he always pondered what made the beautiful ice queen cold enough to hate and trust no one, but him.

"Would you like to know?" A voice asked him.

The Shaman King looked up. What/who had asked him that question? That was certainly not Anna's voice, this voice was strong and male-like, but it didn't sound like anyone he knew.

"Yeah, I would like to know,"—he responded curious to know how anyone could help him find out— "but Anna would never-"

"-We can arrange that." The voice interrupted, as it soundly faded with the wind, echoing in the Shaman King's head.

"Uh, hey! Wait-a-sec! Arrange what?" Yoh called out not knowing who or what would answer…_if_ they would answer him.

At that instant Anna began to move a lot in her sleep, Yoh looked at her face, the peacefulness of her face was gone and replaced with fear and agony.

"Anna? Anna, are you okay? Anna…Anna!" he yelled trying to get her to wake up.

She slowly opened her eyes, but she looked as if she were still asleep, Yoh said her name one more time, she didn't reply. But next she opened her mouth slowly and in a painful and heart aching voice she said, "Otosan."

Her eyes immediately closed afterward and sheens of light surrounded her body devouring her into the blanket of light. The light blinded Yoh entirely, not allowing him to see where Anna had gone to, only allowing him to feel the mild aglow devouring him along with her.

"Anna!" he yelled with his last breath before he fell into total darkness.

* * *

**History's Flames;**

**Chapter 3**

No one tried to kill them on the way to the airport, nor were any shamans or evil force of nature throwing itself in their direction during check in. All armor and weapons were packed snugly in suitcases. Ren constantly showed his displeasure at the arrangement was eloquent and severe, he was that liked to carry his weapons with him, but Hao didn't care. One bing from the metal detector, and airport security would be on them like fleas to fresh meat.

Hao hated airports. There were too many humans watching them, when he mentioned this Manta simply said it was because they looked like a salad bowl. Chinese, German, Japanese, American, Italian, French, British and who knows what else all mixed together in one group. It was normal for people to stare.

It was after a while that Manta began to doubt his own theory. There were groups of guys staring at Annaka, Jeanne, and Jun as they went and got some tea from Starbucks, completely oblivious to all the men who suddenly watched them with intense interest. Bailong and Marco managed to scare off those who were watching the girls, but not without other women checking them out occasionally.

When Lyserg went to help Jeanne carry her tea, he gave the cashier a smile and asked for a tray, the woman looked like she wanted to yank him behind the counter and kidnap him to her house.

Manta would have laughed hysterically, but there were already too many people staring at him—well, at Hao and Ren really, who stood beside him, although the little blonde received his own speculative glances, probably wondering how a midget like him ended up friends with Mr. I'm Too Sexy for this Millennium and Mr. Silver Spoon Prince.

The flight attendants were worse. When Hao stepped on the plane Annaka thought bras and panties would spontaneously explode, or at least magically appear from beneath hastily discarded clothing. She saw one older woman fiddling with the buttons on her blouse, "accidentally" undoing several of them. The Shaman Queen wrinkled her nose in disgust.

The Patch Tribe had reserved them seats at the very front of the plane. First class was almost empty, peacefully quiet except for the clink of glasses and the occasional sounds of flight attendants talking in the galley.

As soon as they sat down the pre-flight informational session commenced, a deep-throated woman speaking over the intercom system, detailing safety measures and FAA regulations. Several flight attendants swished by, ostensibly to make sure everything was upright, in the locked position.

When one overly eager girl with itchy fingers began trying to buckle in the Shamans, that was when Hao became suspicious. Ren stopped the flight attendant, who was maybe in her early 20s, and both he and Lyserg asked where the bathroom was. The flight attendant just smiled and said she'd show them before she slipped her hands into the back pockets of their jeans, squeezing. The men jumped, biting back gasps as the girl laughed, "Follow me," she said. Ren and Lyserg flushed as red as beets.

Marco covered the Maiden's eyes in horror. Hao bit back a laugh and looked at the woman who was passing out wine to those in first class, "Excuse me," he said casually, "Would there so happen to be any extremely flammable substances onboard?"

Manta sighed. It was going to be a long flight.

**…**

They did not crash, they did not burn, and thirteen hours later when the plane landed, Manta wanted to throw himself down and kiss the ground. He had been waited throughout the whole flight for something to blow up or catch on fire, or for someone –say Chocolove –to be thrown out of the plane. But it didn't happen, everyone actually behaved.

Baggage claim was separated from the airport terminal by a set of large sliding doors. As the Shamans handed over the last of their customs paperwork and entered the main terminal, Manta noticed Silva standing in the middle of the place. As everyone else noticed him they followed him after getting their luggage. Manta looked to where the Patch was taking them.

A Patch Jet.

Great.

**…**

It was in the jet where everyone began to act as themselves. Ren was practically murdering Chocolove and Horohoro cause of their annoyance to him, with Chocolove's jokes and Horo's stupidity along with both of them making fun of the scenario back at the previous plane with the flight attendant. "Damn you! Can't you two bastards ever shut up!" he yelled at them constantly.

Horohoro puckered his lips and made kissing sounds. Good-natured bickering followed that along with the chatter between Bason, Amidamaru, and Tokageru, all talking about their adventures that took place on Mu. Morphine and Kororo constantly flew circles around Shamash who, as always, was reading his book of Laws. Faust and Eliza did nothing but stare deeply into each other's eyes while repeating each other's name constantly and holding hands.

Then there was everyone else.

"Lyserg, my protégé! How I've missed you!" Ryu shouted as he grabbed Lyserg into a bear hug, all pounds of muscle tightly knocking the air out of the weaker green haired boy.

Jeanne watched in childish amusement, grinning as she watched Ryu squeeze the breath out of Lyserg. Ryu placed Lyserg down on the floor and turned towards the silver haired maiden, "Oh, of course I've missed you as well, Maiden-chan!" He said as he spread his arms out to include her in his hug. He froze when he felt cold metal at the back of his neck; looking back he saw green flames burning behind Marco's glasses, the rest of his face shadowed.

"If you touch Maiden-sama with your sinful hands and I'll make your brain come out of your head." He threatened mercilessly.

Ryu hid behind The Maiden, causing Marco to become more pissed.

Luchist sat in front of them laughing at the scene in front of him; he couldn't help it at all. At the very back of the plane sat Hao, Annaka, Opacho, Manta, baby Hana and Tamao. Opacho was dead asleep on Hao's lap, while Manta and Tamao covered their ears, Manta with his encyclopedia, while Tamao with her hands.

Manta turned to look at Hana who was also dead asleep but in Tamao's lap. '_It's amazing how they both can sleep through anything'_ he thought comparing one of those 'like father like son' moments to Yoh and Hana. He then turned to Hao who looked as if the noise caused by Marco's yelling had no effect on him whatsoever.

"I bet you did some kind of anti-hearing oversoul, huh Hao?" Manta asked him.

Hao looked at him blankly for a while before reaching into his ears then and pulling out some little yellow balls…ear plugs. "Did you say something, Oyamada?" Hao asked him.

Manta fell to the ground "Ear plugs." He told himself "He had earplugs." He then looked up at Annaka, "What's you secret?" he asked her.

Annaka pulled out a Ringo CD. "I found it in Kyoyama-san's room," she told him, then she pulled out a CD player with her other hand and looked at it for a while, "At the time I thought it went in this device, and I was right."

Manta sweat dropped as so did Tamao, they were about to say something until they heard a little noise.

_BEEP…BEEP_

They all stopped what they have been doing, and for the first time since they got on the plane there was silence. They all looked up to a big television screen at the front of the seats and there appeared Golva.

"_Alright Shaman, this is your last stop. We are now over your destination in America, so enjoy…the plane will now disappear in 10 seconds."_

"SAY WHAT!" Manta and Tamao both yelled out.

Annaka instantly grabbed Hana out of Tamao's arms, grabbed Hao and opened the door of the plane.

"See ya'll at the bottom." Hao said with a sheepish grin on his face as he, Annaka and Hana jumped out of the plane. A giant flame appearing beside the plane and through it appearing the Spirit of Fire, Hao and Annaka managed to successfully land on it.

"Ah, Annaka-sama!" Tamao yelled she then turned towards the timer that appeared in the screen where Golva was a few seconds ago.

3…2…1…

The Patch plane disappeared, vanishing into nothing but air. Manta never hated oversouls as much as he did now when he was suddenly caught in an instant rush within his stomach, the feeling of him falling. He screamed, Tamao screamed, everyone else was calm, "Why the heck are we falling!" Manta yelled to his friends.

"It some sort of 'prank' the Patches like to pull," Ren replied as he fell from the sky in an upside down sitting position. He took out his sword and held it in front of him with one hand, "but no worries, we know how to handle this."

**…**

"Was it really alright to have just left them like that?" Annaka asked looking up at the sky, holding Hana in her arms.

Both she and Hao were now on the ground waiting for the others to come down. Hao lay on the grass with his arms behind his head, while Annaka sat up beside him. "They'll be fine. If anything happens just catch them…" he told her, "Speaking of which they're coming down now." He pointed up, and the others were really soaring above them coming down so fast their clothes would turn to fire any minute.

Annaka saw them as well, she gave Hana over to Hao, "Hold him." She ordered. Hao didn't object. The Shaman Queen watched carefully as she saw gravity yanking the shamans downward, she could hear shouts of someone about to pee in their pants…Manta. She sighed and slowly began counting the seconds before they'd hit the ground.

"If you don't do it now, this desert is going to have a river of blood."

She glared at her husband before snapping her fingers, the large hand of the Spirit of Fire appearing out of a sudden flame in the air, the screaming stopped, replaced by a group of people going "oof". Annaka lowered the large spirit's hand and dumped everyone on the ground, Manta and Tamao frozen stiff in fear.

Hao chuckled as he got up, Hana still in his grasp, "That never gets too old for me…seeing the faces of those who don't expect the plane to disappear."

Ren stood up and began dusting himself off, the Chinese shaman found himself rather annoyed from the females help, in order to cover it up he coughed a bit and added, "Shouldn't we at least start walking to get a head start on what we're supposed to be looking for?" he announced.

"Preposterous, I will not allow Maiden-sama to walk who knows how long through an unknown area." Marco told them. "I offer to use my oversoul car."

Luchist looked at him with a raised brow, "With your furyoku? Your furyoku would be all gone before we ever find the place."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Lyserg put his hand on Marco's shoulder. "Its fine Marco I can just carry Jeanne-sama on my back like last time." He turned to the Iron Maiden "Is that fine with you?" he asked her. She nodded and got on his back, ready to go.

"Um, excuse me."

Everyone turned to look at Tamao, who almost turned pale at seeing everyone's eyes turned to face her. The young girl began to stutter from the usudden attention, "Um…gomen but…I saw a small town as we were falling down from the plane, so… I thought…maybe we could start there?"

They all nodded. "That's where we should start." They agreed, and then they began to walk towards the direction Tamao had led them to.

**…**

Darkness had begun to arrive to the sky hours ago. Yet the brunette girl found herself sitting patiently on a chair twice her size, staring at the screen in boredom as her follower kept searching for the shaman on the screen. The sound of sudden static made her wince, but the image on the screen made her firm mouth slightly curve on one end. "They had come faster than I expected." She mused, "I wonder if _those three_ have something waiting for our visitors…"

**…**

Mari sat at the kitchen table with Kanna, Asanoha and Jane were making dinner as they sat there waiting. Pirika threw herself on the Asakuras' couch and stretched out her arms and the rest of her body, she yawned as she began to speak.

"How long have they been gone?" she asked Jun who sat on the couch in front of her with Bailong laying his head on her lap as she played with his locks of purple hair. Jun stopped what she was doing for a second and looked up at the clock that hung at the door beside of Pirika's head. "About 14 hours" she told her going back to caressing Bailong's hair around her fingers.

Pirika sighed and sunk into the couch, "I want Onii-chan to hurry up and come back!" she yelled into one of the cushions.

Macchi appeared standing on the top part of the couch; she had a tight grip on her broom with both hands which was on top of her shoulders. She leaned her body over slightly to get a closer look of the tired Ainu girl. "Saving Yoh-sama is not an easy matter you know. It's even harder since Lord Hao has not yet received his full power yet." She told her as-a-matter-of-factly.

Pirika looked up from the pillow she had, "I thought Hao was left being a normal human after he used up all of his furyoku to revive Anna-san." She asked.

"Hao has only a tiny bit of furyoku now due to Annaka," Jane began as she gently walked out of the kitchen and sat at the stairs of the Inn, smoothing out her white silk apron as she did so. "Annaka was able to restore some of his furyoku to him."

"Mari doesn't understand." Mari stated boredly now that she and Kanna were now looking through the window that allowed them to see into the living room. "Mari has never heard of such thing," she added as she began to sow Chuck's parts together that were ripped by the cat.

Jane exchanged glances with Asanoha, a knowing look passed through them, one of secrecy. Asanoha was the one to answer. "It's one of those rare things that no one will be able to understand why it was done…except maybe Anna."

**…**

"Hey guys wait up!" Manta yelled, everyone was walking faster than he could therefore it was hard to keep up with them. Tamao was the only one who turned and waited for her little height-challenged friend to catch up with her, when he did, they both ran up to catch up with the others just in time to hear Chocolove begin to annoy others.

"So what has everyone been doing this past week?" he asked to try to start up a conversation, when nobody answered him he decided to pick on Ren who he knew if he pushed him enough he could crack.

"What about you Ren? What'd you do? Huh? I can't hear you_Ren-kun._ Perhaps you've been spending hours of the day thinking about a girl? You know maybe how to conquer her love or-"

"Shut up, you annoying bastard!" obviously the Tao had lost in his ability to control his temper. He began to pull out his Bâo-Lèi Sword to single-handily murder his annoying teammate.

Chocolove, noticing the danger he was in, decided to arrange an agreement with the ill-tempered Tao.

"How about you answer my question and then I'll shut up?" he proposed, Ren looked at him with dagger eyes.

"What was your pointless question?" He mocked but showing a slight sign that he was giving in.

"You know what I said." Chocolove pointed out.

Ren put away his Bâo-Lèi in his pocket "If you must know," he began annoyingly, not to mention loud enough for the rest of the guys to hear. "I've been doing nothing but training on how to become a better emperor. Soon enough I'll have to find myself a wife."

Hao, who walked in front of him, laughed. He looked back at Ren with a wide smirk planted across his face. "Any of those candidates for your wife someone we know?" his eyes slowly darting to a certain direction of their group.

Ren's face turned red and his hair grew at about the same rate his temper was. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" he added defensively.

"They say one's first love is one's first kiss…"

Annaka gazed over at Ren slowly, her eyes judging, "I never knew you were one to fall for such a simple gesture, Tao Ren."

"URUSAI!" The Tao yelled, he whisked his body violently to point at Chocolove, "You! Ask someone else about their week! I'm not going to continue with this conspiracy!"

Chocolove wanted to continue bothering Ren, but instead he decided to ask Hao. "So…what about the powerful and almighty Lord Hao? What did you do over the week?"

Hao stopped dead in his tracks, the others did the same. Manta knew what he was going to say, as so did Annaka, but they just wanted to see the guys' reaction when Hao would say…

"School."

O_O

Ren dropped his sword, Horo's snowboard fell off his back, Chocolove completely froze in place, Marco's glasses fell to the ground and broke, and Lyserg fell flat on his face with the Maiden still on his back, shocked.

Bason and Avaf turned to stone, Kororo and Morphine fainted and fell slowly to the ground, and Mic's jaw flew wide open.

The only ones who didn't react were Annaka, Manta, Tamao, Ryu, Faust, Amidamaru, Luchist, Opacho, Tokageru, Eliza, Ponchi, and Konchi.

Marco placed his hand in his pocket and took out a new pair of glasses and quickly put them on before stuttering "S-sch-school!"

Hao turned to all of them, if he didn't know how to keep his cool he would have probably busted out laughing at everyone's face. But he knew how to stay calm. "Yeah school. Is there a problem?" he asked coyly but he knew their answer, because thanks to Annaka he was still able to read minds, but now he was able to use it whenever he pleased.

'_Asakura Hao, went to SCHOOL, Kami-sama please have mercy on those who got him angry!'_

'_Hao i-in school! That's too good to believe man!'_

'_Jesus, please spare those poor lost souls.'_

Heh, he didn't have to read their minds to figure out that they thought he probably murdered some classmate or something.

"Actually," Matamune began, breaking the silence with his sudden appearance, "Hao-sama didn't do so badly on his first day, I was more worried about Annaka-sama because of what had happened the day before school began."

Everyone's eyes were now on Annaka, she didn't pay any attention, she was too busy walking ahead of everyone else.

The others followed her, still thinking of Matamune's words.

Then it hit Manta, "Ah, I remember now!" he said everyone began to listen to the little guy as he began to tell of what Matamune had meant:

"_Good luck at school today you four!" Asanoha yelled out as Annaka, Hao, Tamao, and Manta all left the Inn, to go and pick up their stuff for school._

"_Explain this to me again." Hao ordered Manta "we have to go to school, but not to learn, we're going to get our uniforms, text books, schedules...etc. Then meet our teachers?"_

_Manta nodded "yeah, pretty much."_

"_Sounds pretty pointless to me" Annaka stated as she bit into an apple that she held in her hand._

_She was dressed in her black jumper dress and white mid-thigh-high socks, she also had on one of Anna's red bandanas on her head tied similar to Anna, and borrowed a pair of her sandals._ _Hao had on the same clothes he wore when he had coffee with Yoh, while Manta and Tamao had on their usual clothes._

_Tamao walked quietly by Manta's side, until she remembered something._ "_Um…Annaka-sama," she began,- Annaka turned to look at the shy shaman behind her—"Um, shouldn't we do something about your eyes? You and Hao-san are supposed to be co-playing Anna-sama and Yoh-sama, so-to-speak and… I mean…Anna-sama's eyes are brown, yours are red so…"_

_They all knew what she meant, and she did have a point._

"_Not a problem." Manta spoke, getting everyone's attention. He smiled, suddenly rather proud of himself, "I thought of this last night and went and got you these," he whisked out a small container._

_Annaka stared at the container before adding, "A box. You got me a box."_

_Hao took that box as Manta fell to the ground, anime drop style. The brunette opened the container and peered in, "Colored contacts." Annaka blinked in boredom, "Their round things you put in your eye to change your eye color." Hao explained to her._

"_I see." She took the small container and slowly began placing the contacts in her eyes. She opened her eyes which were now a shade olive-brown, the coloring on the lens was blurring her vision a bit._

"_You'll get use to it," Hao said, then turning to Manta and Tamao, "Now how 'bout we move a bit faster to get this over with?"_

_With that said they finally reached Shinra Private Academy._

_They all stood at the entrance to the school looking at all the teens coming in to the academy._

_They began to walk and as soon as they did all eyes were on them, okay they were on Annaka and Hao._

_A girl that had been in Manta's class the year he met Yoh (Year 7 group C) came up to him. __**[A/N: she was in chapter 1 pg 11 in the Shaman King Manga]**_

_She was already wearing her school uniform, and her short shoulder length olive-brown hair bounced as she ran up to Manta._

"_Manta! Oi, long time no see!" she waved to him and ran up to him with a smile._

"_Ah, Rukia-san, hey."_

"_Hey where have you been? You've been gone for nine months. Ah don't tell me you've gone and gotten someone pregnant?" she said in a shocked/mocking voice._

_Manta sweat dropped with Rukia-san and the others he use to have some odd conversations._

"_I'm just kidding, Man-ta." She said smiling sweetly, she then turned to the others; she looked at Hao then at Annaka._

"_Who are these?" She asked Manta curiously, not remembering anyone at school with a beauty similar to theirs._

"_Uh, you remember Asakura Yoh from our class." He said pointing to Hao._

_Hao suddenly had a sheepish Yoh-like smile on his face as he raised his hand and said "Hey."_

_Rukia looked at him closely and studied him for a while, until it hit her "Ah, I remember now! You're that guy that Manta had mistaken for a ghost kid in the cemetery, back in class C when we were in 7th! Heh, I didn't recognize you without those orange headphones you always wore."_

_Hao sweat dropped 'only because of the headphones?' he mentally asked himself._

_Rukia then turned to Annaka. "That must mean you're Kyoyama-san, right?"_

_Annaka didn't say a word all she did was nod, her expressionless face being similar to Anna's._

_Rukia sweat dropped a bit. "Besides your hair being longer you haven't changed much."_

_Then she looked at Tamao, before she could ask who she was Tamao immediately gave a responsive introduction._

"_Ano…I'm Tamamura Tamao, year 7. It's a pleasure to meet an acquaintance of Yoh and Anna-sama!" she stated in about 10 seconds._

_Rukia started blankly at the pink-haired shaman who was still in a bowing position. She couldn't help but to burst out laughing._ "_Hahaha, I'm sorry, hahaha, I just wasn't expecting that kind of response. Hahaha. Nah, I believe I've heard of you from the new 7th__graders, Tamao-sama I believe they call you."_ _Tamao began to turn the color of her hair, as Rukia said those last few words._

_Annaka and Hao both stared at her 'Tamao-sama?' they both thought._

"_Well, nice seeing you again Manta" Rukia said as she finished laughing. "I have to go but hopefully we get some classes together and you can tell me stories of your trip. Ja ne!"_

_With that, she left to meet up with two guys at the door to the school, both of them waved to Manta, who waved back._

"_That was…interesting." Hao stated sarcastically, while Annaka nodded in agreement._

_Manta smiled sheepishly "Yeah..." he responded then looked at his watch._ "_Crap! We better hurry and get inside before they close the doors on us!" he yelled._

_The others followed him into the school, entering the halls of Shinra Private Academy._

_Where ever they went Annaka and Hao noticed many staring at them, but decided to ignore it until the thoughts and whispers of the students came into their heads._

'_Holy Crap. Is that Kyoyama-san? She looks better than last time I saw her, that long hair suits her better."_

'_Damn and I thought Kyoyama looked good before.'_

"_Oh. My. Gosh. When did Asakura look like that?"_

"_Asakura looks cuter than usual."_

_Annaka and Hao sighed. Humans were so predictable._

"_Oyamada-san," Annaka called. Manta stopped walking and turned to look at her. "How about we just get our uniforms and leave? We can meet our teachers tomorrow."_

_Manta agreed. "How about I go pick up our uniforms and you guys wait up, ok?"_

"_That's agreeable" Hao said, as he looked over a little annoyed that a group of girls were staring at him, completely concentrating on his features._ _Manta nodded and ran up the hallway leaving Hao, Tamao and Annaka to wait._

"_Ano…" Tamao shyly began. "I need to go tell my teachers that I won't be attending school, so I'll be back."_

"_Just go." Hao said._

"_Arigatou!" Tamao yelled thankfully as she ran down the hallway._

_That left Hao and Annaka alone. Hao looked at her as she bit her apple again and again, after the 7th__bite she turned her head to face him._ "_What are you thinking?" She warningly asked him._

_Hao just gave a grin and looked towards the ceiling "I have no idea what you are talking about."_

_Annaka opened her mouth to say something until she heard a voice close to her._

"_Ano…please leave me alone…..don't…come any closer." The voice said._

_It sounded scared, as if whoever was the owner was being threatened to be killed._ _The crimsoned eyed blond turned to where the voice appeared to come from, Hao also turned towards the direction his wife was facing._

_The voice belonged to a red-haired girl who stood in a corner with about five guys surrounding her, not allowing her to leave._

_Annaka and Hao looked at the girl and immediately they saw why she was surrounded… she was wearing her work clothes which were sort-of a girlish sailor suit that was extremely short for her long legs._

_The guys that were around her began making comments that were known to everyone who was listening to them._

_Hao began to show a bit of disgust and anger as they began to touch her skirt trying to pull it off her; the poor girl was merely a child in his eyes, a child that shouldn't be exposed to such disgusting behavior._

_Manta came at that instant with their uniforms in his short little arms, waving them in the air as he called out to his...friends._

_He froze in place only a few inches between them when he saw Hao's hands crunched up into two tight fists._ _Then he looked up at Annaka, her hair covered her eyes so all you could see was a dark shadow around them._

_He winced when she opened her mouth to speak._ "_Oyamada-san…"_

"_Y-yes?" Manta nervously responded._

"_Anna-san…never liked perverts, right?" she asked in a fierce but casual voice._

"_N-no, she hates them a lot."_

_Hao could practically 'hear' a smile form on his wife's lips; to Manta, it seemed more like a smirk than a smile._

"_Good." That was the last word she said to them as she coursed her way on to the perverted males in front of her._ _She stopped directly behind them and tapped one of them on the shoulder._

_He turned around only to be met with a fist in his gut that plunged him into the lockers._

_The other four guys looked at their friend who was now unconscious on the ground right under the huge break his body made into the lockers._

_They then turned towards the one who punched him, all with wide eyes, staring in complete disbelief._

_What they saw was a very antagonized blond, who stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest looking straight at them in rage._ "_How sick." She said crossly to herself loud enough for them to hear, "To even think that humans can even be this hellish and loathsome…what a waste of a life."_

_Manta began to sweat tremendously, he anxiously looked up at Hao, Hao just looked at his wife with a look of amusement plastered across face._

_The four guys looked at Annaka, until one of them snapped out of it and smirked at her._

"_Hey sweets, I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't believe you had a reason to knock my friend unconscious."_

"_Didn't I?" Annaka asked rhetorically in a cold voice, rolling her eyes at the hopeless human, then as if answering her own question she said, "Like hell I did, you ass."_

"_O__oooh, beautiful and feisty. Are you also very flexib-"_

_Before he could finish the last word, Hao had grasped him by his shirt collar and raised him off the ground._ "_I dare you to finish that last word." He said angrily, his eyes showing hot flames inside them. "Finish it." He ordered._

_The boy looked at Hao in fear but wanted badly to keep his dignity, so he opened his mouth and with his shaky voice he finished, "F-flexible."_

_He fell to the floor unconscious._

_The red-headed girl stared at Annaka in awe, she turned to look at the boy who just a while ago was clutched in Hao's tight hands, but was now unconscious on the floor after Annaka had came out under Hao and punched the boy heavily in his crotch._

_Hao looked down at his spouse, his expression was difficult to tell but it seemed a mixture of anger and relief._

_Annaka looked up at him as well, she then rose up and turned her face to the last three standing males._

_They looked at her in alarm. One of them raised his hand as if stating surrender or just trying to stop her from hurting them._

"_Um…look. We don't want any trouble, so if you don't mind we'll just be on our way and leave the girl alone." He announced in surrender._

_There was silence as both Hao and Annaka read their thoughts seeking their heads for the truth._

"_Liar."_

_The boys shared a look... and lunged._

_An arm curled around her neck, hauling her backward, Annaka stepped back, bent over in one violent motion, and flipped the boy over her shoulder, driving him hard into the floor. Suddenly Hao was there and he pushed Annaka aside as he flipped the groaning boy over on his stomach and yanked back his arms._

_The other two were easy enough to finish off, they'd never had experience in fighting, in a matter of seconds __Annaka dusted her hands off and looked at the remaining guys who were now unconscious along with the rest of their friends._

"_Just a bunch of dumb ox." She stated before walked back to Hao, placing her hand into his._

_They began to walk, but were stopped by the girl in the sailor suit._

"_Thank you for helping me, Kyoyama and Asakura-san." She said to them her voice strong and mature._

_Hao stared at her for an instant, then, already knowing the answer, he asked "What is your name?"_

"_Sumisu Shaarotto, Class F, year 11." She immediately stated._

_Hao raised a brow at the human, "Year 11?" –-Shaarotto nodded- "Well then Sumisu-san I advise you to either quit your job or to pack an extra change of clothes before coming to school."_

_Shaarotto's eyebrows came closer together, but instead of saying anything, she blushed a bit and nodded._ _With that Hao turned back and walked with Annaka through the hallway._ "_Come on Shorty, we're going home." He told Manta._

_Manta turned towards Shaarotto and bowed slightly then went and ran behind Hao and Annaka with the uniforms under his arms._

_Then they met up with Tamao at the entrance and walked back to the En Inn._

Everyone looked at Annaka in shock, how could two people be so alike when it came to their temper?

Hao began to laugh at their faces of astonishment. Annaka rolled her eyes.

No one knows how long they had been walking for now it had seemed like hours, they were all wondering now if Tamao had a sight problem and this town she saw didn't exist.

That was when they hit a dead end…

A big pile of rocks stood in front of them they were so huge that it could have been possible for them to be at the Grand Canyon.

"It's a dead end." Lyserg sighed.

"Well, no shit Sherlock." Horo responded.

"Speaking of Sherlock…" – Chocolove began –"I have a joke that's bound to crack you guys up! Okay so Sherlock and Watson go camping, set up their tent, and fall asleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes up his friend. He says: 'Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.' Watson replies, 'I see millions of stars.' 'What does that tell you?' Watson thinks about it and says 'Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. It appears to be a quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant in his vast creation. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?' Holmes is silent for a moment, and then says, 'Watson you idiot, some one has stolen our tent.'!"

Everyone sweat dropped at Chocolove as he fell to the ground dying of laughter. Ren lost it. "That is the worst joke you've ever came up with!" he shouted in rage, grabbing Chocolove and yanking him up into the air before using all his strength to throw him towards the rocks in front of them. Chocolove went flying straight towards the boulders but instead of crashing into the boulders as they had thought, he flew _through_the rocks as if they weren't even there.

Everyone's mouths dropped open. In their moment of awe, Faust walked over to them and placed his hand on the rough texture, his hand just went through it as Chocolove did.

"A hologram?" Ryu asked walking forward to examine the rocks as Faust had.

"Wrong…an oversoul." Hao corrected.

They all watched him as he walked straight towards the rocks, disappearing as Chocolove did. The others followed close behind as well each vanishing before the naked eye.

* * *

**DON'T. FORGET. TO. REVIEW.**


	4. Anna?

Everything he tried to see was pitch-black, nothing above, below, or beside him could be seen.

He struggled to open his eyes as if he were in some dream where there was nothing but amiss black.

He heard voices inside his head, a strange familiar voice he heard above all, the voice of a girl.

'_I wonder if he's dead. *giggle* impossible, dead people don't snore. I wonder why I can't read his mind. Should I wake him up? Well I'll just come back another day when he's not so tired. In the meantime I'll wait for him…'_

The daydreaming brunette forced his eyes opened he sat up, and placed his head on his right hand.

'_What was that?' _he pondered _'…Anna?…!!!...Anna!'_

He jerked his head up and saw he was no longer in the warm, soft meadow of lights inside the Great Spirit.

He was inside a room, laying on a soft futon that was in the middle of the vast wooden room.

"Ah, I see you're awake." a strong male voice said from behind him.

Yoh quickly turned towards the voice, in a corner he saw a very muscular man in a brown leather shirt in a corner, his hair seemed like a black-hair-colored version of Marco's, which came a little above his shoulders.

Yoh blinked the male in front of him reminded him much of-

"Shilva?" he asked in a questionable clueless tone.

The male raised a brow at him then a smile formed on his lips. _'so he knows Shilva... this may not be as awkward then.'_

Yoh shook his head. Did he just _hear _this guy's thoughts? Impossible only Hao, Anna, Annaka, and Opacho were able to do that, but not him. Then how…

"I am not Shilva." The male told him, the smile not leaving from his face, "My name is Cadm and you are…Asakura Yoh I presume?"

Yoh stared at this so-called Cadm in shock "H-how do you-"

"Know your name? Lucky guess. You look a lot like an older version of the Asakura Yoh from the Asakura Clan. Though he's only seven years old."

Yoh's dumb-founded expression didn't change a bit; he stared at the black-haired male for a while.

Yoh heard a small chuckle from thin air, then before his eyes a figure appeared at Cadm's side. Yoh had to narrow his eyes to see the familiar shaped features of a demon.

"Ohachiyo?" he said in shock at the small demon that wore a long Patch uniform, and stared at him with a smirk.

The demon walked, with his arms crossed, over to wear Yoh sat, he examined Yoh closely looking at him from every angle. After a few minutes he paused and said "No doubt you're an older Asakura Yoh."

"Um…yeah, but-wait I shouldn't be here!" Yoh proclaimed, he stood up and moved his foot to begin to walk- "I should be inside the Great Spirit with An-!" -his foot got caught in the futon and he fell the ground-.

Ohachiyo shook his head, Cadm walked over to the brunette that lied across the floor.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a strong voice.

Yoh scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly as he got up. "Yeah. For some reason I don't feel any pain."

Ohachiyo put both his hands behind his head as he walked around the futon as Yoh finished getting up.

"It seems you don't feel any pain due to the fact you're a spirit." He told Yoh calmly.

"I'm a what!" Yoh shouted out.

"A spirit" Cadm repeated in the same tone as Ohachiyo "But not a regular spirit you're sort of a solid spirit I guess you could say, that can only be seen by people that are important to the reason you are here. You're a very unique kind of spirit."

"How can I be a spirit?" Yoh asked himself, not noticing he spoke loud enough that both Ohachiyo and Cadm were able to hear him.

They turned to look at each other, both raising a brow.

Yoh began to walk out the door; he turned towards Ohachiyo and Cadm with a small grin.

"Thanks for trying to help, but I don't really understand what's going on. Hehehe."- He scratched the back of his head- "*sigh* maybe what I need is to think alone for a bit."

Cadm nodded, "If you need anything you can come back here if you wish."

Yoh smiled and nodded "Thanks."

With that said he walked out the door, his thought coming along with him.

'_What is going on?'_

_----------------  
_

"What is going on?" Hao asked out loud as the others came through the oversoul of boulders.

As each on came through they asked the same question in their head.

Ahead of them were millions of houses and temples lined up close to many stands of food and other necessities.

"It's a hidden village." Horo said out loud, the others for once nodded in agreement.

"But why would there be such a village hidden behind the oversoul of rocks?" Lyserg inquired.

The others shrugged, thinking as hard as they could to find a reasonable answer; their thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice.

"Hey guys! Over here!" Chocolove called out, waving his arm in the air, signaling then to walk over to him.

They all turned to one another and shrugged, what did they have to lose; it wasn't as if finding the hidden village had answered any of the questions that had them up to their necks.

They walked towards the stand where Chocolove was leaning on, each one looking around the village searching for anything that could help them find out where to start looking.

Finally the reached Chocolove, he grinned and allowed some of them to seat on some of the tall stools that that stood before the stand.

"This place has something out of place," murmured the Tao under his breathe loud enough for only the ones close to him to hear, "Everyone is way too calm, there doesn't seem to be one upset or serious person in sight."

"All too strange," Faust agreed, carefully examining each passing group of people, taking in their joyful expressions one by one.

"Well," –Chocolove perked up, standing up from his seat—"we shouldn't worry about these sort of things…while we're here how about we order something to eat?!" –He sat back down on his stool-"Ryu let's start with you, what do you want? They have hamburgers, pizza, miso soup, soba…"

The dark shaman kept on scrutinizing the menu, going on with the endless choices of dishes.

Ryu though was somehow able to ignore Chocolove's constant discourse, his mind being on the girl who stood behind the stand, waiting for them to announce their order.

He watched her every move as she walked back and forth getting needed ingredients for the customers' orders.

At last Ryu sighed. "What a hot tamale." He said under his breathe as his hair _boinged _into the shape of aheart.

Still scrutinizing the menu, Chocolove shook his head. "No tamales, Ryu. But if you prefer Hispanic food they do have tacos!"

Horohoro punched the table in annoyance. "If you keep it up, Chocolove you're going to be swimming with the fishes." He angrily stated pointing to a nearby river which flowed through out the whole village.

"Thanks, but I didn't bring a bathing suit!" he laughed out patting both Ren and Horo hard on the back.

"That's it!" they both yelled before throwing themselves on Chocolove pummeling him hard.

Marco rolled his eyes at the three. "Maiden-sama, I refuse for you to be around such horrible influences for a such a while." He told her.

"I don't see any bad influences around here, do you?" Hao asked jokily towards Marco.

He, Opacho and Ohachiyo all lay under the cool shade of a nearby tree. Annaka stood, leaning against the tree for support, as so did Luchist on the other side.

"YOU'RE THE WORST INFLUENCE OF ALL!!!" Marco shouted pointing at Hao in rage. "HOW CAN YOU JUST STAND THERE AND WATCH SUCH UNCIVILIZED BEHAVIOR TAKE PLACE?"

Hao opened one eye to look at the angered blond who didn't bother to lower the finger that pointed to him. Then he looked over at Team Ren, who were still in their dispute. He smiled to himself and closed his eye.

"Easy," he said, now even more relaxed, "I enjoy a good fight."

"YOU'RE MAD!" the blond in uniform proclaimed.

Hao laughed gleefully, grinning all the way. "If I wasn't then I wouldn't have any fun."

A little bit more farther away than the others stood Manta and Tamao, with Hana in her hands, eying as Marco kept on shouting at Hao, Ryu flirting with the girl from the stand, Team the Ren kept on in their fight, and Faust and Eliza staring into each others eyes repeating each others name in a love-sick tone.

Above the two floated Ponchi and Konchi who waved flags in the air, shouting as they watched Team Ren fight in total entertainment.

And a hopeless Amidamaru, who looked on at his friends saying, "We'll never be able to help Yoh-dono at this rate." -In a desperate tone of voice.-

Tamao sighed, she looked around and after a while decided to turn around and start walking to look around.

She didn't take two steps before she bumped into someone, making them both fall to the ground.

Tamao rubbed her bottom; finally her senses came to her as she looked at Hana who was fast asleep in her arms as if he had never felt the _'bump'_ when he fell down with Tamao from the collision.

Tamao sighed in relief then sat up and looked worriedly at the person who she had bumped into, an apologetic look all across her smooth pale face.

She looked at the person on the ground to see what their expression was. To her surprise she could not see a face. She looked closer with better vision and had saw why.

The person was in a long brown cloak that covered every skin of their body, but judging from its figure she could only guess he was male.

Tamao began to slowly stand; making sure Hana wouldn't fall out of her arms as she did.

She laggardly held her hand out so that he could have something to pull himself up from the ground.

Manta watched her as she, in a peculiar motion, came closer to the boy on the ground.

"A-ano…"-she hesitated-"I'm terribly sorry!"- She continued with a slight bow of her head.-"I didn't mean to-I just wasn't looking ahead so…GOM---"

Before she could finish she was suddenly yanked away, spinning as she tried to balanced herself. Annaka stood protectively in front of her with a strong and stiffened position.

Tamao looked over Annaka's shoulder, her eyes growing big when she saw the reason Annaka acted in such way.

A big ball of gray fur stood where her hand had been, it's giant wolf-like body standing fixed and frozen as it growled at the blonde.

The others looked at it with deep outspreaded eyes, clutching their weapons tightly, ready incase they would have to use them for a fight.

Then another cloaked figure came among the other one. This one seemed more relaxed and cautious then the other one who was on the floor.

He looked at our entire shaman as if analyzing each aspect of their body, then he turned to the giant wolf-like creature, who was still growling away looking at Annaka in wild rage and thirst.

In the blink of an eye Hao suddenly stood -relaxed but protectively- over Annaka, looking at the cloaked boys with an unreadable expression.

The boy, who was analyzing them awhile ago, looked at Hao, starring at him so hard he could have bore holes through Hao's body.

Hao did the same, but instead he calmly searched through the boy's thoughts.

'_Asakura Hao…' _he heard him think. The tone of his mental voice sounded as if it had come with rage.

Annaka who was reading Hao's thoughts heard it as well.

'_He's supposed to be dead…but I guess that could be his greatest talent, avoiding death.'_

The boy took in a deep breathe in that second all his thoughts where whisked away, making the voices in both Hao and Annaka's head…silent.

"Jeikobu," he said referring to the wolf-like ball of fur "calm."

Then it occurred to the both of them as the wolf suddenly disappeared into a small ball that floated over his shoulder.

It was a spirit, the spirit of a great and humongous animal with the power to kill in one measly attack. But…it looked so real to them.

Hao did not let this cloud his thoughts, he had seen many spirits over the years that it didn't surprise him seeing probably what was a new…'breed' of spirits.

"Well gentlemen," –his voice and pleasant, on the surface- "Is the issue here resolved?"

The cloaked one on the ground quickly stood, looking at Hao as if he were trying to throw daggers at him with his eyes.

"No." he coldly replied.

Ryu and Faust appeared behind Tamao as the others joined in as well, each one gripping their weapons, ready to oversoul their spirits any minute.

"If it's a fight you want then we'll gladly give it to you." Ren menacingly told them; pointing out his Bâo-Lèi in their direction, his golden eyes glazing at the word, fight.

"Hardly. We'd just rather take this conversation to a more appropriate place." The boy's smooth voice whispered just as menacingly, his spirit Jeikobu, (as he had called him) glaring at Annaka and Hao with its crimsoned eyes.

"No shit." Horo replied glaring just as hard. "You bastards just want to catch us off guard so then you could-"

"Shut it Usui," the blond ordered him.

Horohoro did as he was told, but not without swearing at Annaka under his breathe.

The blonde relaxed her posture, and slightly pushed Hao to get by.

"If you're taking us to a better location, you take _all _of us. No exceptions."

"Heika wouldn't have it any other way." One of them had almost silently murmured under their breath, as they both led the group of shaman to a new location.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**YOH'S P.O.V.**

This place is so…different. I've never been in such a peaceful town before; even with my eyes closed I can practically _'hear'_ the smile on peoples' faces.

What is going on? One second I was beside Anna, looking at her…beautiful, soft, perfect peach skin, and her amazing golden hair…

I shook my head. I couldn't think of how beautiful Anna was when I didn't even know what happened to us back there.

I sighed. I feel so useless right now, what am I suppose to do?

'_I wonder if he's dead. *giggle* impossible, dead people don't snore. I wonder why I can't read his mind. Should I wake him up? Well I'll just come back another day when he's not so tired. In the meantime I'll wait for him…'_

That voice. I opened my eyes, I've heard that voice before, I _knew _who that sweet melodic, angelic voice belonged to.

My vision was blurred but I could see a small gentle peach-colored face, with deep mesmerizing chocolate black eyes staring at me.

I also knew those eyes.

"Anna?" I asked as my vision became clearer. Clear enough to see the look of shock on her face when I said her name.

"You okay?" I asked her. I didn't get it, what was with the look of shock on her face.

"You know my name…" she softly said.

Yeah I knew her name…where was she going with this?

There was something else about her though, her voice was…childish?

That's when I got a good look at her, that edgy feeling that was bothering me.

She looked younger. She was shorter, probably only about half a foot taller than Manta, and her hair was…long. It came down to her waist line, but not losing its usual edginess that Anna's hair had.

Something, a thought or memory, came into my head as I stared at her waiting for her to say _something_.

'_You look a lot like an older version of the Asakura Yoh from the Asakura Clan. Only he's seven years old.'_

Seven years old? How is that possible? I looked at the girl in front…she looked about seven years of age.

"How do you know my name?" she demanded, and her voice shook a little.

I guess I must have scared her a bit. This made me feel guilty; this possibly seven year old Anna looks so defenseless compared to my Anna.

I laughed a bit, that seemed to calm her down a bit. I noticed before Anna would usually calm down after I would sheepishly laugh or smile.

"Sorry," I began, scratching the back of my head. "You kinda looked like someone I know, my mistake." I decided making it sound like a joke was safe.

"Oh." She seemed to have accepted that answer, letting it slide.

"So you're name is really Anna?" what a stupid question to ask if I already knew the answer, no wonder sometimes Anna would say my questions were idiotic.

"Yes, _Kyoyama_ Anna. I'm new here so I don't really know my way around here…but I guess I'll be able to manage."

Call me crazy but this sort of defenseless Anna was a bit entertaining. She kind of amused me a bit.

"question." She asked her expression now more serious, more like my Anna.

"Sure thing." I told her. She could ask me what ever she wished after all probably sooner I'd be the one asking the questions.

"What exactly are _you?_" her expression didn't change as she said it, meaning she really wanted to know.

"I saw you sitting here"-she went on- "but it seemed that no one else around here has."

"How are you so sure they're just not ignoring me? After all I'm just a carefree person, there's no reason for them to notice me." I smiled my usual grin at her.

She seemed to have blushed, her peach-colored cheek slowly turning a rosy color, something I hardly ever saw on my Anna. It was kinda cute.

"Ano…" she seemed to be thinking of her reply to answer me, I wondered why I thought I was just making a joke about myself. Why was she taking my question so seriously?

'_Should I tell him?'_

She turned her face to my direction; I patiently waited for her response, my grin still planted on my face.

'_For some reason I feel that I CAN trust him' _

She let out a long breathe that I never noticed she had been holding in, then her whole body turned facing me.

"I am able to read peoples' minds…I believe I could tell you almost every thought that flies into my head from every person that has wishes or desires." –She turned to a salesman in a corner-

"'How_ can I improve my sales before I go into debt?_'" – She looked at a women in a corner- "'_I have got to do something better with my life than this.'_"

I knew I had to believe it. I had known about Anna's ability for a while, it haunted her day and night when I had first met her.

But at this time she doesn't seem to mind it, could there be a reason that in the end makes her loathe that power which she possesses.

"Do you feel anything about that?" I asked her, I had asked Hao the same thing in my head back when we had coffee, though with him I was asking about a different situation.

She stared into my eyes, her tiny chocolate black eyes seemed to have gotten lost in my as her face features struggled, but calmed.

"I am not sure"-she raised her head up to look at the hovering clouds-"It's a strange thing, to hear peoples' thoughts, knowing the truth behind many façades that people place to keep one out,"

Her eyebrows came closer to each other, her face following along with a frown. "It keeps me up at night hearing all those voices, it gives me head aches that really angers me. But I always tell myself there must be a good reason why I have it."

I watched her face, but I was scared of what I might see, I'd hate to see sorrow on her, even if she was Anna.

But her face remained…calm.

'_Just like Anna'_ I thought to myself.

"Are you…some spirit?" she asked interrupting my thoughts.

Possibly, she could have been going back to her previous question, she sounded eager to know, as if she wanted to ask me that ever since I… '_Woke up'._

I wanted to be honest; I never liked to lie, especially to Anna. I was always afraid that if I ever _did_ lie to her I'd end up in my grave.

But, really, the truth was that _I _wasn't even sure what I was right now. Cadm and Ohachiyo's… 'Definition' of what I am here doesn't really help.

She looked at me waiting for answers.

And why not tell her? Her ability was soon to tell her anyway, it was actually an easy subject.

"I'm not really sure." I joked.

If it was Manta or someone else I was talking to they would have sweat dropped, maybe even fall to the ground in amazement at how clueless and carefree I could be.

But this, of course, wasn't just anyone. This was the girl whose destiny is to marry the shaman king, the one destined to marry me. So her reaction being different than anyone else's didn't surprise me.

She raised a brow at me which reminded me of Anna's are-you-really-so-dumb look she had given me a few…minutes ago?

"You see" – continued when I noticed the hint of interest in her eyes- "I kinda just…woke up here. I don't really know what I am right now."

Her little lips curved a bit, as if my cluelessness humored her.

"Do you at least know your name?"

"My name?"

She nodded. And I smiled.

"Yoh, Asakura Yoh."

"Yoh-kun." She softly whispered to herself, I wanted to smile, the way her soft childish voice sounded was…cute.

Then she smiled. I blinked hard to make sure I was looking right, that my vision was still 20/20.

It was. She _was_ smiling, but not the smile I was use to. Not Anna's smug or smirks, but an actual _contagious _smile, which left me with no choice but to lightly smile.

At that moment I finally came to me. The reason I was here 8 years away from my current time.

'_Her mask,'__ I though __'I sometimes wonder,' __I looked down at her and placed one of my arms under my head, the other around Anna's sleeping body._

"_Has there ever been a time where Anna would smile constantly? If so…then what happened to make her cover her true self?" I began to think out loud._

That's why I was here, from my own curiosity I wanted badly to see a time where Anna smiled without worry, wanting to know what had caused her to trust no one.

I turned to look at her as she watched the sun slowly set, her small tiny eyes reflecting the warm sunlight.

_This _is when her life becomes so harsh? At only seven years of age? So harsh that she dreads her abilities, and because of them she closes out everyone around her?

A sharp pain entered my chest, the same retched pain I felt back on Mu when I found out Anna's real identity. Her Shaman Queen self.

"It's getting late." She told me, her voice sounded sad. "I got to go home."

She turned to me and I tried hard to smile, saying it was fine.

"You'll…be here tomorrow?"

I nodded; I wanted so badly to know of Anna's childhood, because of that I would stay close.

"Sure! We'll play a lot next time, how about that?" as soon as those words were out of my mouth I regretted it.

This girl wasn't just a kid. Not like Rebseb and Seyram, this was _Anna, _I looked at her waiting for a cold "no."

To my surprise she said something else.

"Okay. We'll have fun then." She sounded very happy.

-She took a step back- "Well then, Ja ne, Yoh-kun!" she called out in a singing voice.

Then she turned around and began running joyfully back, her long golden hair swaying back and forth as she did.

I watched her go until she disappeared from my sight.

Then I let out a sigh, this was overwhelming. It was way too much for me.

But I know that everything will work out in the end. So why worry, right?

With my normal attitude back, I looked at the stores around me. There had to be something that could take my mind off of all of this, to keep me calmed and relaxed.

A place that had something that made me worry-free.

And there it was…the convenience store.

I got up and stretched, how long have I been sitting down? Oh well.

I gave one last stretch and yawn before I began making my way to the convenience store.

**NORMAL P.O.V.**

A girl with long dark, _very_ dark blue hair stood at the counter. She looked carefully at an art magazine in front of her, her grayish green eyes skimming each picture.

She'd been at work for a while now, hoping desperately for her shift to be over.

The tiny bells above the entrance jingled as a teenage boy pulled the door open. The boy was wearing orange sweat pants and a white, short-sleeved shirt around his neck was a necklace which had some sharp figures hanging from it.

'_Oh wow' _the girl breathlessly awed at the boy, beginning to skim _him _as if he were a piece of art.

The boy wandered over to the CD racks and stood there for a few minutes, his eyes wandering over the different CDs. His eyes lit up as they landed on one particular CD. He reached out for the CD with his right hand and quickly walked to the cash register.

The girl's eyes glanced over the boy's orange headphones and then over the boy's face. The boy had the most relaxed expression she had ever seen in her life.

He possessed the laziest smile ever and a pair of eyes that lit up with childish joy after the boy found his favorite CD.

He made her want to smile at his wondrous features and relaxing attitude.

The boy handed the CD to her. She glanced over the front of the CD.

"Soul Bob, how old are you?" she asked him curiously. She then took another glance at the boy.

'_He looks around fifteen, only two years younger than me.' _She wondered why a boy around his age would want a _Soul Bob_ CD.

Yoh laughed a bit. "15, he he, I like the classics." He told her, smiling his famous sheepish grin.

She could have melt from that smile. _'He's two years younger, two years YOUNGER." _She mentally screamed at herself.

Yoh noticing this as the girl's thoughts were screaming in his head. He blushed a bit, when he realized why she was mentally screaming at herself, then he looked down at the CD on the counter.

The tiny bells of the door jingled, making the navy blue-haired girl return to her senses.

"Sorry."-She apologized while calling herself stupid in her head-"I just never considered Soul Bob among the classics for your age."

Yoh shrugged his shoulders in a carefree way.

"2,000 yen please."

Before he could reach into his pocket to check for money, a hand placed itself on the counter leaving some coins beside the CD.

Yoh looked beside him to see Cadm looking at him, a big smile on his face.

"Just let me pay for it, I don't believe you would have brought money with you from where _you_ came from." He stated.

"He he, true."

Cadm smiled then turned to girl at the counter who eyes them curiously.

"Misaka-san, this is Yoh. A…member of the family, so to say, he'll be staying with me for a while, he seems to be on business here." He casually told her, not a hint of anything that would cause Misaka to be suspicious.

"Ah so you're his relative eh? Strange, you look nothing alike." She stated, _now_ suspicion was getting the best of her.

Cadm grinned at Yoh, who was looking at a painting of a girl in a grassy meadow field, looking up at a clear blue sky, it hung over the art supplies which were beside of the music section where Yoh got his Bob CD.

Then Cadm turned back to Misaka leaning closer to the counter. "He's married to a special member of my family." He softly whispered.

Misaka's eyes grew huge; she stared at Yoh, eyeing the young childish lazy expression on his face, then she turned to Cadm who just kept smiling.

She opened her mouth but closed it after she heard the jingle at the door.

Cadm smiled at her, "Let me get a few things before I pay," he told her as he went over to the art section of the store.

Misaka nodded and went back to eying the water-colored pictures on the counter. A shoulder ended up on the counter "Is my order here?" asked a cold male voice in front of her.

Yoh turned away from the drawing to look over at the person who lay over the counter.

A tall, leaner boy with unruly, sort of like Redseb's, dirty blond hair stood there; his eyes frozen on Misaka with seemed to match the color of his eyes, blue.

He wore grayish-blue pants with a whitish-tan turtle neck shirt and a red half buttoned up jacket.

Masaki looked up from her magazine to look at the boy; her eyes grew huge as she stared into the boy's cold and starring eyes.

"Ah Edward-san!" she yelled in surprise, her hands whipped passed the pictures sending them to the ground, Yoh noticed the slight blush in Masaki's cheeks as she turned to look at him.

The blond named Edward rolled his eyes, "Masaki," he began in an annoyed tone.

Then a chuckle came from behind Yoh, all three of them looked behind him.

Cadm stood there chuckling, a bunch of supplies under his arm.

He looked toward the blond. "Good to see you again, Edward." He said to him cheerfully holding a hand up.

Edward glared at him, and nodded. "Cadm." He simply said and looked away from him.

"How's your mother, Akiko?" Cadm went on.

"She's well"

"Your father?"

"At ease"

"You're sister? Oh that reminds me, I haven't seen her in a while, I'd like to see her soon. Do you think Akiko will mind if I borrow her for a while anytime?" he added in a tone that made Yoh wonder at Cadm's reasons for asking those question.

He soon found out.

Edward clenched his fists and banged the table, then furiously he turned to Cadm "Stay away from my sister!" he ordered his thoughts pouring into Yoh's head.

'_PERVERTED BASTARD, I'LL KILL HIM. HE LAYS ONE FINGER ON MY SIS AND HE'S DEAD! SHE'S SEVEN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!'_

"Edward," Masaki warned. _'Gah he's too protective over his sister, but I can't blame him, she's cute for a kid'_

Edward eased up a bit and then he finally noticed the lazy-looking brunette beside Cadm, his cold, ice-blue eyes freezing Yoh in place, Yoh stared back his face not losing its calm, his chocolate eyes never losing their warmth.

Edward turned away more calmly than before. "Family member Cadm?" he asked but to Yoh it sounded more like a statement.

"Good observation my friend." Cadm said nodding approvingly.

'_I'm not your friend'_ The blond asked no more, he turned to Masaki "My package." He muttered to her.

Masaki immediately pulled out a box full of stuff, Yoh was able to see from where he stood, he had…art supplies?

Yoh raised a brow a Cadm who seemed to be laughing in his head at Yoh's reaction.

'_Is that what everyone does around here' _he wondered _'paint?'_

He shrugged, '_no need to worry about it'_ he thought.

Edward got the box, placed it under an arm, and began out the door, glaring at Cadm before the jingle of the door sounded. Then he was gone.

Masaki looked at her watch, her eyes grew.

"Well, this is nice and all…but I'll be late for cram school if I don't go now, so…"

Cadm nodded and handed her the money, she quickly stuffed it into the register and gave them a receipt.

Then the two were on their way.

Yoh smiled as he took his Bob CD. He held it up in front of him admiringly and then slowly placed it into his pocket.

He then heard laughter beside him.

"Hahaha! Your attitude is quiet strange my friend." Cadm stated a bit _humored_ by the fact.

Yoh smiled sheepishly "I just haven't heard a Bob CD since the Shaman Fight started in my time." He laughed.

Then something hit him.

"Cadm." He said his voice now serious.

"Yes?" the black haired man raised a brow at the brunette.

"Doesn't it affect the future in any way by you knowing I'm _'going'_ to be the Shaman King?"

Cadm looked at the young Shaman King then he laughed out loud leaving Yoh completely clueless.

"Is _that_ what made you so serious all of the sudden?" he asked still laughing.

"_Yeah_?" Yoh replied. If it was a joke Cadm was laughing at, then he didn't get it.

Cadm's laughter slowed the he turned to Yoh.

"Ah my friend," –he began- "there's no need to worry about it. You are inside the Queen's head her hidden memories in the back of her mind. For all she knows, you're just part of her dream. And as for you…you can do what you wish in here and it won't affect the future, but it will affect what you want to know about the Queen."

Yoh slowly took in that information, _'it will affect what I'll learn about Anna' _he mentally noted.

"One more thing." –He asked-"you said that only the people that are important to the reason why I am here. Then how-"

"-were Misaka-san and Edward able to see you? Simple they are connected to Anna-okami, Edward more I believe, but I am not allowed to tell you how. And what ever happens between them is unknown. For some reason I cannot remember what happened…or _will_ happen."

"Oh."

They kept walking in silence as they headed on to where ever this trip would take them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So you bring guests and decide not to tell me?"

The shaman who had followed the cloaked ones were now standing at the gate of a massive temple-like mansion.

After starring at it in total awe they saw another figure emerge as the gates had been opened.

Now in front of them stood one more "cloaked one" but this one's cloak did not hide her entire being.

They could see the girl with the brown cloak quiet well, she was pixielike, not to mention thin in the extreme, her hair was a dark deep black which was cropped short (like Tamao's) pointing in every direction.

In her golden eyes you could see the playfulness she hid with her serious, but calm face.

Out of the entire shaman in front of her, the Tao, the Anui, the Asakuras, the small ones, the cloaked ones, the strange ones in uniform, she seemed to be starring at one particular shaman, one that carried on his back a lovely maiden.

He did not seem to notice her though, as he was looking at the ground, taking in deep breathes from the long walk.

Lyserg then looked up when he felt her steady gaze.

That gaze was held until it was broken in 5 seconds by a desperately loving Ryu.

He ran up the steps until he was on his knees holding her hands in his.

"Young lady, won't you be my best place?" he said whole heartedly.

The pixielike girl looked at him for a while, starring, then she smiled. Ryu's eyes lit as she showed her glowing smile.

"Gomen, but I really don't believe I can."

Ryu froze then, as if he were stone, he fell to the ground, his heart breaking into a million pieces as he did.

The pixie girl just smiled on. Then one of the cloaked figures cleared their throat.

"Arisu, you don't mind do you? It's a request from Heika."

The pixie-like girl called Arisu kept smiling on as she spoke to the boy. She made an _okay_ sign with her fingers.

"No problem."

The two cloaked ones nodded then took their separate ways. Then all the teams turned to Arisu.

She turned to the shaman teams, her smile never fading. Then she turned around after saying a small "follow me."

The shaman did as told, each one following.

"I don't trust this girl," Ren stated in a murmur, walking with his arms crossed in front of him "She's way too happy. No one can be that happy without thinking of some great evil."

"But is being happy not a good thing?" Lyserg asks he face full of exhaustion and confusion.

Marco pushed his glasses up his nose, his face giving a serious glare at the black haired 'pixie' in front of them.

"Lyserg," –he began- "some people smile of happiness, others" –he looked towards Arisu then Hao- "smile because their happiness is caused by something evil from deep within them."

Horohoro let out a laugh "Ha! I just think Ren is pissed at the girl because her happiness reminds him of that orange-haired girl he has!"

Hao's ears tweaked when he heard that, then looked back at the Tao, a wide smirk across his face.

"Is that so? Well I'll be sure to give her that message." He said smugly.

Ren's face crimsoned, he clenched his teeth together and stiffened, full of rage.

"I most certainly do not!" he yelled out causing everyone to look at him.

Hao smiled, "She's not your type?" he asked innocently but at the same time manipulatively.

"Of course not!" -He blurted out, before he realized- "she is an annoying child! I prefer someone who does NOT constantly annoy me!"

"Ouch." –Hao mimicked- "That hurts. But…if that's how you feel…I'll be sure to tell her."

That's when the Tao realized what he said; he mentally cursed himself, to Hao's amusement.

Annaka rolled her eyes.

"Don't kill yourself Tao you're about as heartless as Usui here is a genius."

Horo gripped his hands into fists. "Don't start with some pointless shit."

Annaka's face was impeccably blank. "Perhaps, for someone like you, it would seem pointless seeing as it won't give you much fruitful results."

"I never liked Anna's tongue and your tongue is not much different." he said darkly.

She shrugged. "You can deal with it as you had before."

"Lyserg, please place me down." Jeanne told him.

Lyserg did as he was told, placing the maiden carefully on the ground.

"Ah Maiden-chan! Do you wish to have someone else to carry you?!" Ryu hopefully asked her, his eyes glowing from the thought.

She shook her head. "Not at all, Lyserg just seemed exhausted, so I decided to back down."

"Jeanne-sama."

The Maiden looked at him, blinking. Lyserg was gazing at her looking troubled.

"I'm not tired Jeanne-sama, I can carry you till we get there, really." He stated.

"On the contrary," Faust began as he took a look at Lyserg "You look completely debilitated." Eliza nodded in agreement.

"No I'm fine, honest."

"Lyserg," Marco began in a warning tone, "you will not carry the maiden in the condition you're in."

Lyserg gave in; he looked at the Maiden who gave him a soft smile.

"You sure are a lively bunch aren't you?"

They all looked at Arisu they'd completely forgotten she was there.

Manta scratched the back of his head. "Hehe, usually."

She looked at Manta, blinking, then she slowly walked over to him and squatted (yes squatted) down to his level.

Manta completely froze; he looked up at Annaka and Hao who seemed to be looking deep into the girl's thoughts.

Arisu carefully examined the short boy, looking deep in his eyes, then she smiled and stood up.

"Sorry about that." –She apologized- "I just have never seen someone so small at your age, I find it cute."

Manta looked at the floor, he turned red, Hao laughed.

The coal haired girl smiled then she looked over at Lyserg and Jeanne.

"You two sure are cute together, are you a couple?" she asked them.

Annaka looked at the girl, raising a brow in disruptive suspicion; this girl seemed utterly familiar to her.

Lyserg blushed, Jeanne blushed, and everyone else turned to look at them.

But Marco was the one to speak up, "Madam, no such thing is at work here, Lyserg is just Jeanne's most trusted ally, after myself."

'_So that means in the end, nothing happened between the two…wandering spirits'_

Annaka and Hao narrowed their eyes as the girl's thoughts slowly began to access their heads.

'_In the end the same thing will end up happening.'_

Through the girl's eyes they saw her looking at Jeanne then slowly her clothes became brown and her silver hair lightened with a soft gentle blue. Under her dress of brown with many designs was armor, then the image burned.

Annaka took a step back her eyes wide with terror one name came through her head as she saw the image of the girl burned. _'Joan.'_

"Oh. That's too bad." Arisu told them, her voice hinting pleasure. _'For what comes ahead for you'_

Jeanne's eyes narrowed at her, she noticed it but paid no attention. Lyserg just looked back and forth between the two.

"That is enough out of you, Arisu." A voice came from behind her.

Hao saw the smile on Arisu's face vanish, her body completely stiff. _'There went my moment of happiness.'_ he heard her 'say'.

A new figure emerged behind the coal haired pixie-like girl, this one contrasted from her completely.

This one wore a similar brown cloak but the rest of her separated their only alike as if they were the colors black and white.

Ryu examined every inch of the lady. The women looked around Kanna's age, she was very statuesque, and had a beautiful figure, she had wine-colored hair which gently waved down to the middle of her back.

Ryu felt his mouth drop in awe, Horohoro and Chocolove just stared beside him.

Arisu turned her head and smiled at the wine haired dame behind her.

"Wilhelmina!" she said (though she pronounced it Wiruherumiina.) "Have you come to greet our guest?" she was obviously pushing her voice to make it _sound_ cheerful.

Ren clenched the Bâo-Lèi sword in his hands as the woman looked him and his friends over.

"No." she simply said "Heika wishes to know why you must torture the guest with your unusual questions and cheerfulness."

"Excuse me madam," Matamune said as he suddenly appeared by Hao's side. "I'd like to know exactly who your Heika is, if you would be so kind."

"It only takes a nice gesture to get what you want." Said a voice from afar.

They all looked past the opened doors in front of them; they hadn't realized they had walked down the halls of the big palace.

There, in the middle of the room before them, sat a hooded girl upon a golden throne.

Her aura seemed familiar to all of them, her scent and power reached them within seconds of her voice.

Luchist and Opacho stared along with the others, Luchist carefully narrowing his eyes as Arisu and Wilhelmina walk to each side of her each one beside of what he guessed to be the cloaked males they had met before.

Tamao, Amidamaru, and Manta looked at each other they were thinking the same thing.

Though she was hooded something inside of them pulled them towards the aura of one person.

'_Anna?'_

**HALLELUJIA CHAPTER 4 IS DONE!!!**

**NOW ON TO THE OTHERS!!!!! REMEMBER THE NEXT CHAPTER MAY TAKE A WHILE BUT I'LL DO MY BEST TO HURRY FOR MY READERS!!!!!**

**DON'T FORGET TO READ AND THEN RATE AND COMMENT!!!!!!!!**

**Crystel Hidalgo/YohAnna4eva**


	5. What The Hell?

"Heng Gaoxing Jiandao Ni?" Macchi answered, though making it sound more like a question than a response.

Tao Jun, who looked over her shoulder, nodded a soft but proud smile on her face.

They were working on Macchi's Chinese lessons, the Taos said she was required to learn it if she were to stay with them. She had already had some lessons her first week at the Tao mansion and was just brushing up on some phrases.

"Mari: how do you say Mari is bored?" Mari asked in her usual dull tone. She lay across a couch roughly passing a comb through Chuck's yarn hair.

Pirika flinched each time Mari's comb would come to a knot and rip out some strands of yarn.

"Um…Mari. After what Chuck's been through with the cat you think you should…comb him like _that_?" she asked, still flinching.

"I don't think Chuck minds it." Jun responded, pointing to the lifeless doll.

"Not now, but when his soul returns he's going to wonder why he has a headache." Pirika murmured loudly under her breathe.

"Miss Jun, your tea." Bailong said carrying a tray with a cup of tea, and bringing it over to Jun.

Jun thanked him and stood up from the floor to sit down on a couch beside him.

There was silence for a brief moment until yells echoed through the house.

"AGH! I can't take this anymore!!" Macchi shouted out "When are they coming back?! It's been _3 DAYS_!!"

She continued to roll around the floor until something slammed against her face and landed in her arms, it was a white box.

"Put that on." Kanna ordered appearing from the kitchen and throwing a box in Marion's face as well.

"Mari: what is it?" Mari asked opening the box.

"Uniforms for the maids of the soon to be Funbari Inn" Asanoha answered coming out of the kitchen, while drying her hands with a dish towel.

"Okay. So why us-…oh" Macchi felt her eyes grow, then she looked at the uniform, then at Kanna who raised a brow at her.

Marion stood up from the couch and threw the uniform to the couch and ran trying to get past Kanna, Ashcroft blocked her exit up the stairway.

"Marion." Kanna warned.

Mari looked as if she were to cry; she reached behind her and pulled out Chuck, his gun in his hands.

"Mari will not be a maid! Chuck won't let Kanna do it." She said her voice shaking.

She placed Chuck in front of her with both her hands and Chuck came to life pointing his gun at Ashcroft.

"Listen here young lady" –Ashcroft proclaimed- "You will do it as a sign of honor, you hear!"

Mari shook her head hard, "Mari won't. Mari won-"

A spiked arrow flew and hit Chuck hanging him to the wall; Mari looked in horror to see it came from Jack.

Pirika hid behind the couch, Bailong stood protectively in front of Jun ready incase anything accidentally came their way.

Jane peeked at what was happening through the door, while Asanoha stood beside her.

Macchi walked over to Marion with Jack beside of her. Mari flinched. Kanna moved in closer as well.

"Mari, calm down. Its-"

"Mari does not want to be a maid; Mari will not be a maid!!!"

_**SLAP**_

Everyone's eyes grew; somehow Asanoha was able to walk over to Marion unseen and smacked her across the face, leaving a pink flush on her cheek.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The room was silent no one seemed to want to believe that this girl was Anna, though since her hood covered the top half of her face they couldn't be sure.

Hana began to cry. Tamao held him in a more comfortable position to see if he would silence, but it didn't work.

The girl in the cloak, looked at the child, then she began to get off her throne, one of the cloaked bowed let out a…a growl?

Annaka and Hao looked at him, their eyes narrowed.

As the growl from his chest rumbled on, the girl stuck her hand out in front of him.

"Nagehiko, there is no danger, calm please." She said her voice soft and angelic with a sort of melodic maturity to it.

The one she called Nagehiko stopped growling, but something told them he was not calm at all.

She seemed to notice as well, she turned to the last cloak one whose name was unknown to our shaman. "Emmetto," she said.

Emmetto turned to her, she looked at him them gestured her head towards Nagehiko.

"Hold him back." She ordered.

In an instant Emmetto was grabbing on to Nagehiko, pulling his arms behind his back, the wolf spirit Jeikobu stood tall in front of Nagehiko to keep him from going forward.

Then the girl walked towards the shaman particularly towards Tamao who held Hana close to her chest.

Ryu and Faust went to her side, readying Tokageru and Eliza for any sudden attack.

Everyone on their side seemed mighty jumpy; the only calm and relaxed faces among them belonged only to team Star and Annaka.

Finally the girl stopped only a few feet away from the shy pink-haired.

"Asakura Hana is it not?" she asked her tone of voice making it sure she didn't need an answer.

Tamao didn't even answer she just looked at the girl wide-eyed and worried, and held Hana close to her.

The girl smiled in amusement.

"You seem to know us quite well." A voice said from behind her.

She turned to be face to face with Hao, his expression not any different then it had been before.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hao could see Nagehiko flinch trying to pull off Emmetto and Jeikobu, Hao smirked in amusement.

"Of course," she replied "a good woman knows who her arriving guest must be in order to be a good host."

Annaka coldly glared at the girl "A good woman also tells who guest who exactly is hosting." She stated her tone the same as the expression on her face…cold.

'_Hao-sama,' _–Hao looked down at Opacho who was starring at the girl, her expression calm but her tiny dark nose wrinkled.- _'Opacho smells earth.'_

'_Earth?' _Hao raised a brow, suddenly interested.

"It is simple to mistake you for Anna-san, is it not Annaka?" the girl asked those who couldn't see could practically _hear_ the smile on her face. "If it wasn't for the scent of blood you carry I would've mistaken you for her as well."

Everyone from both sides of the room froze, _scent of blood? What did that mean?_

Annaka glared at her, her blood-red eyes glaring as if they were stabbing the girl with daggers.

The girl's lips curved. "No need to be in rage, after all…" _'How else would your spirit smell if in your last moments of life you were surrounded by the item?' _she finished mentally.

Hao chuckled "and I suppose your smell of earth means you've lived underground?"

She shrugged "for all you know, it could."

Annaka had it! She threw herself at her clutching in her hands an oversouled blade. She _**slashed**_ the sword in her direction.

The girl threw herself to the air, a huge gust of wind blowing as she did, then her feet landed on the ground, her back facing them.

"She missed?!" Horo and Chocolove questioned in awe.

"Not entirely." Luchist stated, pointing toward the girl.

They all turned to look. With her back still facing them the girl's hood shredded into tiny pieces of brown cloth, revealing locks of dark medium length midnight hair.

On the other side of the room they saw that Emmetto's hood had fallen off his face showing his pale-colored face and golden eyes, his warm sunny hair was similar to Lyserg's (minus the spikes at each side).

Nagehiko was somehow able to keep his hood on, so his expression was unknown while the others all stared dumbfounded.

"Ari," –Arisu flinched at the sound of her nickname from her Heika's mouth- "take our guest to their rooms."

"Rooms?" Marco piped up; he pushed his glasses up higher "Madam I can assure you we have no means to take vacancy here."

"Marco," Lyserg began only to be interrupted by Ren.

"The X-Law over here has a point, we have no reason to stay here." He darkly stated.

"Unless we have _BEER_!!" Chocolove yelled taking out a bottle of Bud Light and waving it in the air. **[A/N: IF U DON'T GET IT; HE WAS RHYMING HERE AND BEER]**

"Where did you get that my comedic challenged friend?" Ryu asked looking at the bottle curiously.

"I keep a set of props hidden, secretly and this happened to be there." Chocolove proudly announced.

"Grrr, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE MAKING STUPID JOKES!" –Horohoro yelled out, while throwing himself to punch the mess out of Chocolove- "Can't you see nobody thinks your jokes are funny! You just ruined a serious mood!"

Manta looked up front; he saw the pixielike girl and the crimsoned hair girl across the room began to move strangely.

'_Are they…shaking?' _he asked himself, then the two busted out in melodic and harmonic laughter.

Manta sweat dropped _'they were shaking…in laughter.'_

The midnight haired girl (with her back still facing them) softly chuckled "You'll have to excuse them. They haven't laughed in a good while, Wilhelmina especially. Now about your rooms-"

"We'll gladly let you lead us to them" Hao calmly answered.

Everyone (but the cloaked ones' Heika) turned to look at him, shock in their eyes.

"You're insane." Lyserg blurted out, Jeanne placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Lyserg now's not the best time to state what is already known." She softly said.

Annaka turned to her husband "I believe she just insulted you." She told him blankly.

Hao happily grinned, and shrugged "At least now I know she can."

"But don't you think it's risky to sleep in an unknown person's home, knowing they may be up to no good?" Faust asked as he caressed his spirit "Surly Eliza believes so."

"Risks are what Hao-sama is known to make, it shows that even in his sleep he is not likely to think he can be defeated." Luchist spoke up "Surely I have no problem with this arrangement, do you Opacho?"

Opacho shook her head, she folded he arm in front of her. "Where Hao-sama sleep Opacho sleeps!" she strictly announced.

Avaf suddenly appeared his arms crossed in front of him "We don't have any other places to rest." He analyzed. Matamune, who stood beside him, bit his pipe "Amidamaru?"

Amidamaru appeared beside the walking cat "As long as it gets us closer to helping Yoh-dono, I'm willing to do it."

Suddenly everyone else decided to join in by announcing their opinions as well.

Ryu excitedly piped up. "Okay then it's settled! We sleep here for the sake of Danna!"

Kororo "~_kuru~_ed" and Mic purred as their masters nodded in agreement.

Bason looked at his Master as he thought it through "Master Ren?"

Ren opened his eyes and straightened up "If that's the case Team the Ren will stay as well."

"As so will the X-Laws" Jeanne told them.

Annaka rolled her eyes "it takes you guys that long to think of sleeping arrangements?"-She turned to the girl, who still did not bother to show her face- "Alright we'll stay."

"Somehow I knew you would." She replied hearing the smile in her own voice, as she looked over at Arisu who immediately smirked back.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come! And buy your needs before the New Year! We have all your needs for your journey to the Osorezan Mountain to make your yearly prayers!"

Yoh walked with his hands in the pockets of his new orange coat that Cadm had recently bought for him back at the convenience store.

He thought about the recent events but mostly on the young Anna, comparing their face features, attitudes, and smiles.

"What are you thinking about Master Yoh?" asked Cadm when it seemed Yoh came back to the present time.

"Oh, please don't call me 'Master'. I'm not used to that," laughed the boy. "Call me the way you used to."

Cadm cleared his throat. "Master Yoh, I'm afraid I cannot address you that way. You are the Shaman King so…forgive me. I can't call you anything else."

"But before you weren't addressing me by 'Master Yoh' or 'Yoh-sama', you called me 'My Friend'" Yoh pointed out, watching each passing store.

"That is just a sign that I'm willing to befriend you, but if I am to address you by name I am required to say 'Master Yoh' or 'Yoh-sama'" he informed.

"I see." Yoh stepped to the right to dodge a group of students, accidentally stepping on a rock and losing his balance.

"He he, oops."

"Watch it my friend, I do not want to be held responsible for the Shaman King's injuries." Cadm responded as he helped Yoh regain balance.

"So what are you thinking about so much?" asked Cadm.

"Anna." It was the first thought that entered his mind and let his mouth. He propped his elbows behind his head. "I want to be with her." he said, voice thoughtful as he imagined what his Anna could be doing right now.

"You'll see her after your desires are met."

"I want to see her already," he said candidly.

"You seem to really like Anna." Cadm said as he analyzed the thought of it in his head.

"He," –he blushed- "I love her" he warmly whispered.

Cadm smiled and looked at the ground as he walked "What is she like in your time?"

"Anna? Um…" what was he going to say? _Emotionless? Expressionless? Blank? Cruel? Scary?_

Cadm laughed. "That high spirited huh?"

"Very" he replied.

"My wife would love to see how she'll turn out in the end." He said out loud.

Yoh blinked in confusion. "Your wife? Why is that?"

Cadm looked at him, still walking "Because my wife is her Aunt." He said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Yoh stopped walking, he stared at Cadm his mouth dropping.

Cadm stopped and looked at him in suspicion.

Then Yoh reacted. "YOU'RE _MARRIED_ TO JANE!!!!!??" he shouted out. –Cadm nodded- "b-but then that means…YOU'RE THE IRON MAIDEN'S FATHER!"

Cadm looked clueless for a moment "Iron Maiden? Is that what they're calling my daughter, Jeanne?"

Yoh didn't answer his head was full of questions; he closed his mouth and looked at Cadm, the pieces falling together in his head. "You're a Patch." He stated.

The edges of Cadm's lips curved a bit, then they made a wide grin. "You're not very observant are you my friend?"

Yoh didn't follow.

"You woke up and saw Ohachiyo in a _Patch_ uniform and _I_ was with him." Cadm began.

"I thought it could've been a coincidence." Yoh sheepishly replied.

"I told Misaka-san you were a member of _my_ family."

"I thought you were just covering for me."

"I told her you were _married_ to a special member of my family."

"I was too busy looking at that painting to notice what you were saying." Yoh admitted.

Cadm sighed "You're too carefree."

"I get that a lot." He laughed.

The Patch shook his head in disapproval, then a question popped into his head. "Master Yoh…have you and my niece…_done_ anything with each other yet?"

The blood rushed to the shaman's head, Anna's UNCLE just asked if he and Anna had been…_*gulp*_ intimate with each other.

*gulp* he felt weak.

"I see." Cadm said scratching his chin "You have."

There was a long pause, Yoh watched as Cadm pursed his lips together, and his eyebrows furrowed, making what Yoh was his "deep in thought" expression.

"Guess I'm not that surprised," Cadm grumbled.

Yoh exhaled.

"Though,"-Yoh flinched, as Cadm continued- "I never thought that after the King was announced there would even be time to be intimate."

The silence was now longer, there was only the sound of their footsteps, and the talking of the many people that walked by them.

Then finally Yoh broke the silence.

"It was before the I came to America." He softly said in a tone of guilt.

"Hmm?" Cadm looked at him questionably, Yoh looked at the ground as they continued to walk, then he repeated himself.

"We were…intimate _before_ I left to America for the Shaman Fight."

Cadm froze in place, Yoh took a few step before he stopped and turned his body to face him.

Cadm's face was blue, his body shook in, what Yoh though was, rage.

Cadm looked at the ground "Could you give me permission to express my thoughts?" he softly asked struggling to keep his voice calm for the moment.

"Um, sure?"

"YOH-SAMA NO BAKA! YOU GOT HER PREGNANT _BEFORE_ THE SHAMAN KING WAS ANNOUNCED!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yoh blinked "How'd you know she got pregnant?"

Cadm's face lightened a color. "You don't know?" he asked.

"Know what?" Yoh asked _'did I miss something?'_

*sigh* '_she didn't tell him'_

"Tell me what?" Yoh asked again, as eager as a child wanting to know what he got for Christmas.

Before he answered Cadm's face, gradually shade by shade, returned to normal.

"Yoh-sama, I do not know why Anna did not tell you but…whenever the Shaman Queen gets intimate with…anyone, for that matter, she is known to get pregnant the first time she does. Mostly due to the fact she is only to do anything with the Shaman King."

Yoh's eyes grew, Anna never told him that, but now that he thought about it he did bring pregnancy up that night.

* * * *

"_But Anna what if…what if you get pregnant?" he asked worriedly._

_Anna didn't look worried, her face was blank, there was something in her eyes, but Yoh didn't know what._

_She turned her body to face him, then she got closer to him, and positioned herself in his arms, Yoh froze._

_Yoh looked down at her, as she placed her head on his well built chest._

"_Anna…"_

"_-if that happens"-she said- "then I want a son."_

_ * * * *  
_

Those words echoed inside his head.

'_I want a son' _

'_I want a son' _

'_I want a son'_

Yoh hung his head, "She knew." He said to the ground "she knew and decided not to tell me so I wouldn't worry during the Shaman Fights"

Cadm stared at his monologuing friend.

"Why?" Yoh went on "Everything I want always comes at a price."

Cadm took a few steps toward Yoh then he gently pushed him in the direction of his home, once again in silence.

"My friend," Cadm began breaking the silence "It appears to me that besides you, Anna doesn't seem to care about anything else. She loves you dearly, thus she didn't want you to worry."

Yoh slowly took this in, he realized in a way Cadm had a point. "In the end everything will work out." He said to himself with an approving nod from Cadm.

Yoh smiled to himself. _'I'll open up your heart Anna, I promise that.'_

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
_

Hao stretched himself on the futon that lay out on the floor of the room which he was assigned.

"Ah, after a good three days of traveling it's good to just lay back and enjoy the little things in life." Hao said out loud.

"So I'm a little thing in your life?" Annaka asked raising a brow, she too was laying on the futon, her body was positioned to face Hao.

Hao turned his body to face her; he placed to fingers on her chin and brought her face close to his.

"On the contrary," he told her, slowly filling the space between them "you are my life."

He brought her face to his, closing the small space between them.

"Mmm, that's good know." Annaka murmured a moment later.

Hao chuckled "when was the last time I had you like this?" he asked her, once again closing the small space.

Annaka slowly pushed him away after a moment. "Had me like what?" she asked her tone icy cold as she raised a brow at him in anger.

Hao smiled "Completely fragile and dazzled due to me."

He leaned in to kiss the sides of her throat but she placed a hand over his mouth to stop him.

"_I'm_ fragile?" she said in her cold tone, making it sound as if he had insulted her. "Out of all the people you believe you dazzled me into becoming fragile?"

Hao took her hand off his mouth and looked so deep into her eyes that surly he could see her soul.

"I'm not dazzling you?" he asked a wicked smiled across his handsome face.

Hao knew her by now to know the answer; he was hearing her heartbeat as he stared deep into her eyes.

Her heartbeat thudded louder than normal, and the rhythm was abruptly staccato. Her eyes grew wide making her look stunned.

Hao half-smiled, bringing the blond back to her senses "Well?" Hao said with the smile still on his face. "Am I not dazzling you?"

She looked away from his warm chocolate eyes, knowing that was her mistake from the beginning "No." she replied still not wanting to make eye contact.

He chuckled softly, ah how little she seemed to know him. He leaned his face closer to where she had no choice but to look at him.

"You really shouldn't have said that." He told her in a dark tone.

In one swift move he got her and shifted her body so the she was now lying directly under him. She stared at him wide eyed.

"You have two choices, love." He began menacingly, his mouth only 2 inches away from her ear. "One: you take off that barrier around your mind for a few minutes for me to know what you're thinking. Or two: you admit that even at this very moment I'm dazzling you."

Annaka narrowed her eyes, "And if I don't?" she asked in a pissed off tone of voice.

A smug grin slowly began to form on his face, as his thoughts got to Annaka's head.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

Annaka thought for a good bit, she didn't like any of the choices he was giving her, then she saw option number 3.

"Hao you do realize you have a disadvantage here, don't you?" she slyly said.

Hao raised his brows in curiosity. "And what would that be?"

Annaka pointed to it, now Hao saw what she meant; with one movement of either of her legs she would be able to knee him in his crotch.

Hao shuddered at the thought.

"Now you wouldn't want the father of your future children to become sterile would you?" he defensively asked.

Annaka smirked and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Is the great Asakura Hao scared?" she joked.

"Very, are you happy?"

"Very."

He rolled to the side so that he was no longer on top of her, then he sighed in defeat.

Annaka smiled then closed her eyes and concentrated, opening the barrier that protected her mind from being heard by Hao.

Hao noticed this as her thoughts poured into his head he smirked and then, in a brief second, his lips went fierce against hers, breaking her concentration.

He hungrily kissed her going down the edge of her jaw when he suddenly stopped.

"In the name of all that is holy!" he yelled out in annoyance.

"What?"

Then she heard a knock at the door, her soul also beginning to become annoyed of the interruption.

"Luchist." She angrily said, as she narrowed her eyes at the door.

Hao got up and put on his robe, then threw Annaka hers. _'So he can _think_ we were asleep' _he mentally told her.

She nodded and quickly put it on as Hao walked over and slid the door open, and saw Luchist and Opacho standing at the door.

"What is it so urgent that you have to call my attention so suddenly, Luchist?" asked the shaman in annoyance.

"Sorry to interrupt your rest Hao-sama, but the others gathered in the living room for a summit and we require your presence as well."

'_So they're the ones I have to kill for interrupting me' _Hao briefly thought.

Then he saw that Opacho made a face as she read through his thoughts.

'_Hao-sama is a pervert' _Opacho mentally told him.

'_No, Hao-sama is a man.'_ Hao corrected.

Opacho shuddered in disgust.

"Hao-sama are you going to join us or not?" Luchist asked impatiently.

Hao thought for a brief second, if he didn't go he could continue where he left off…

' _HENTAI!' _Opacho shouted, making Hao wince in pain.

"Alright, I'll go." He said when he recovered. He slid the door shut and followed them to a room where the others were.

"About time you showed up." Ren stated, his arms and legs both crossed as he was seated on a chair.

"Good night to you too, Tao Ren." Hao sarcastically said rolling his eyes as he sat down.

"This is no time for shit Asakura" Horo protested "This is serious business."

"Okay what's the business?"

"We're in enemy territory" Ren began "from what I know about territories I know that they must have a reason behind letting us stay here"

"-most likely something to do with Danna." Ryu finished.

"Banana!" Chocolove yelled as he popped out from behind a couch in a banana costume.

A wooden sword _wham_ed against his head, splitting the banana costume in half, and making Chocolove fall unconscious to the ground.

"Don't you ever make jokes when it comes to Danna!" Ryu shouted in protest.

"Easy Ryu" Tokageru said "You'll mess up your do."

Ryu sighed "You're right my floating green friend, he is not worth messing up my perfect do."

Manta sweat dropped. Faust walked over to Chocolove trying hard to make him regain consciousness.

"What are we suppose to do? If we are in enemy territory there's really not much to do." Lyserg analyzed "What if we call the Patch? They're the ones that brought us here-"

"So it was the Patch, no surprise there." Said a voice.

All heads turned and saw Emmetto standing at the doorway with Arisu and Wilhelmina, all in robes.

"May we know why you come to ambush us" Marco said pointing his gun at them.

Arisu 'peeked' her head out from behind Emmetto's back. "Ambush? Hardly. We just came out of pure curiosity to check to see if you were all asleep."

"Hmmp, there's no reason for us to ambush you, if we want to fight you we don't do it by surprise…it ruins the fun." Wilhelmina announced to them.

"So it was the Patch who sent you, I should've known" Emmetto growled "but to think Asakura Hao would help them must've been what through me off."

"You all hold a grudge against me." Hao said. it wasn't an opinion it was a fact.

"That's an understatement." Emmetto remarked his golden eyes glaring through Hao.

"Hao-sama, make them go away." Opacho wined. "Opacho does not like the way they smell."

Ren, Horohoro, Ryu, Hao, Luchist, Manta, Faust, Chocolove, Lyserg and Marco all looked at Opacho.

She had her hand on her nose as if to keep away their smell.

"The way we smell?" Arisu asked her eyes full of interest.

Wilhelmina walked over to Opacho, Emmetto grabbed her arm.

"Let go Em. I want to try something." She said her eyes on the small African child.

Emmetto let go, and Wilhelmina stopped as she was only a few inches apart from Opacho.

Opacho looked at her Hao-sama as if she were looking for approval. Hao looked at her and smiled.

Luchist got his gun out aiming at Wilhelmina, Ren got out his Basontou spear, Lyserg got Morphine ready as so did the others with their spirits.

Wilhelmina looked over at Arisu, Arisu mouthed two small words._ Mind reader._

The red haired stuck her hand out at the small African girl. _'What do I smell like?'_

Opacho looked at the hand. _'Hao-sama I can't read what else she is thinking' _she whined to her precious Hao-sama.

'_I know, neither can I.'_ He responded.

Wilhelmina's flaming red eyes stared at the girl. She asked one more time _'what do I smell like?'_

Opacho uncovered her nose and leaned in to smell the girl's hand pausing for quite a while to get a good sniff.

Lyserg looked at Morphine, only to see that her pink eyes were glued to something or someone across the room. He followed her gaze to see that Arisu stood frozen as if she were in some kind of trance.

Her eyes were wide and she did not blink, her coal eyes for the moment had no pupils as if here soul were far in time.

Morphine turned, to face Lyserg; she flew in front of his face and desperately pointed to Arisu and Emmetto.

"What is it Morphine?" He whispered as she began to tug at his shirt.

Out of the corner of his eye Emmetto eyed the fairy spirit, with a pleased look on his face.

Hao seemed quite impatient by now. _'Opacho.'_ He warned.

Opacho took one last whiff. And looked at the red head, she looked at her with the up most curiosity.

'D_on't say it out loud. Just say think of it, I know you can read my mind though I can't read yours. What do I smell like?'_

Opacho closed her eyes and pictured what she smelled.

There was a huge squawk of a bird and everyone's eyes widened as they saw a ghost like figure come their way pushing them back against the ground.

Each one began to stand up but with a last glance in Wilhelmina's direction they saw the ghost like figure come at them, then it disappeared within each ones' head.

Arisu snapped back to reality and literally danced across the room to where Wilhelmina stood.

"That girl knows too much." Wilhelmina snarled, her eyes focused on little Opacho's 'sleeping' body.

Emmetto narrowed his eyes toward a room, Tamao's room.

"Will she see it too?" Emmetto asked, his question directed at Arisu.

"From what I saw they'll all see it. When it's over Tamao will wake up with a grand pain. As so will Jeanne and possibly '_her'_." Arisu replied her tone of voice for once serious.

Emmetto saw and heard three grunts and unsteady movements coming form three separate rooms.

He narrowed his golden eyes at Wilhelmina. "What are you showing them, Mina?" he snarled under his breathe.

Wilhelmina smirked "Unless you want to go down a painful journey of memory lane, I'm not going to show you."

She turned around and began to walk towards the way they came in. with one glance at each other Arisu and Emmetto followed.

***************************************************************************************************************************

_"Why are you here alone?" a young boy with long chocolate-colored hair asked._

_A smile child with long pink hair, that passed her waist, looked at the boy with some blank, pink eyes. "I am not alone." The girl said, tons of smog coming around her as strange looking demons suddenly appearing in her surroundings, each one looking at the boy right in his harsh brown eyes, "I am accompanied by my kind," the small girl dully added, hoping that this strange boy would just suddenly disappear from her sight.  
_

_The boy laughed at the girl, his laugh causing all the demons to quiver and suddenly disappear.__"You are no demon girl," he told her, becoming half amused  
_

_The girl growled at him "What do you know?" she snarled._

_"I was told by humans that I was a demon, but a demon himself told me I was not. I was something far off from both things."_

_The girl narrowed her eyes "And what would that be?"_

_"A shaman."_

_The girl scoffed at his ignorance, "I can assure you, you strange boy, I am no shaman!" she stood, her tiny delicate legs lost their balance and she fell back right into the boy's arms, the boy raised a brow at her and she just blared holes through him, "Let. Me. Go." she hissed, pushing herself out of his arms.  
_

_"You sure are stubborn," the boy mused, "Hmm... then how about I do this for you. You can join me in creating a world without those small ignorant humans that caused you to become this way."_

_The pink haired girl began dusting off her attire, then she turned her back to the boy, "No one caused me to become this way," she whispered, "I have my own reason to be accused of what I am. I killed my mother when coming out of her womb, eating her soul as she gave me life."_

_The boy raised a perfect brow, "Is that what they told you?" he asked curiously._

_The girl turned to face him, her eyes narrowed and her face stern, "No, it's the way I reincarnate every time."  
_

_--------------_

_"Come on and dance with me it's the New Year! Come on and have fun!" a happy voice called out._

_A small young girl with pixielike features was waving her hand in the air signaling for someone to come to her. Her spiky coal hair bouncing as she danced to where her partner was._

_She held her hand out a boy grabbed her hand. He had long chocolate hair and he wore a tan Indian style outfit, the small girl wore one similar to his._

_"I'm pretty sure I'm too big to dance with you" the boy laughed. And no doubt too, the girl looked only to be about 5 years old. He…well he was way older than that._

_"Nonsense!" the pixie girl cried out "You're never too old to dance and smile every day of your life!"_

_The boy laughed._

_"That's one person's point of view…okay, one dance won't hurt." He replied taking her hand._

_"You know you're the first one to talk to me in this place, why is that?" the boy pondered._

_"That's because I know you're not a bad person." The girl said as she twirled._

_The boy stopped and frowned "What makes you think I'm not a bad person?"_

_The pixie girl stopped twirling and looked at the boy "Your future does not show you're a bad person."_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_"What's this?" the boy asked when he came into the tent to see his pink-haired friend tending to an unknown stranger in a futon._

_"He was hurt." She said in a blank tone "He was stoned by humans because he was speaking to a spirit." Her eyes turned to show the wolf spirit that sat in the corner of the room, a giant grey wolf with deep, glassy, light blue eyes that stared at the blond boy that laid on the futon.  
_

_"Stoned, huh?" he walked over to the boy a placed a hand on his forehead, pulling back the locks of unruly blond hair._

_"Before I heal him" the brunette began "tell me why you are caring for him?"_

_The pink haired girl's face didn't change "What do you mean?" she asked in a grave tone._

_"It's not like you to care for others."_

_The girl looked at the ground "I care for some people." She muttered under her breathe._

_The brunette paid no attention to her words, he looked at the blond boy on the futon, he sighed "His life seemed a tough one," he mused, "but who knows, I'm pretty sure he'll serve me in my perfect Shaman Kingdom_

_-----------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_"Why didn't you just let me die!" a red-haired girl shrieked, tears were streaming down her face as she looked at the four kids in front of her._

_"Why would you want to die?" a blond boy asked._

_"Why wouldn't I?!" the red haired yelled out._

_The pink haired looked at the girl and shook her head "There is no reason for you to cry. A good girl keeps her mouth shut and thanks her rescuers."_

_The girl glared at her, her locks of crimsoned hair falling around her lovely teary face. "You think you can tell me what to do! I am obviously older than you! And what do you know about life? You did not just go through what I did! You don't know the feeling."_

_"Then why not show us?" the brunette boy calmly stated._

_The radiant headed girl stared at him, her eyes wide with surprise._

_"We clearly don't know what you went through"-the boy went on-"but you don't know what they've gone through" he said pointing to the three children behind him._

_The brunette went on "To be told to be a demon and believing it the rest of your life" –the pink headed girl glared at a nearby tree- "to not be able to speak to anyone due to the fact you know what the future lies ahead for them" -the small coal haired child held the yukata of the brunette hiding her face-"and not to mention being stoned by your family and friends because you saw a spirit and spoke to him." –The blond boy cursed at the ground-_

_"You say we don't know what it feels like. So why not show us? That is your shamanic power is it not? To show people images that you wish for them to see."_

_The crimsoned girl stared at the brunette her eyes wide she looked at the ground. "I hate humans." She said._

_"I know."_

_-----------------------------------------------------------------------_

_"Are you alright?" a soft kind voice asked._

_A green haired boy opened his eyes and sat up, he scratched his head feeling a sharp pain in his back. "Ow."_

_"Hmm you still seem to be in some pain." The soft voice analyzed._

_The boy looked up and was stunned by what he saw._

_There before him stood a beautiful girl with long locks of silverish-blue hair and stunningly warm ruby eyes. She smiled sweetly at the boy._

_"Is he alright?" a voice from behind the angellike girl had asked._

_The boy's eyes led him to see a tall boy with super short blond hair, all spiked and unruly, and with smooth ocean eyes._

_The angel turned to ocean-eyed boy. "Just a little pain left."-She turned back to the boy that laid before her-"You'll be fine on your own when I'm done."_

_A strange creature appeared it was blue with what appeared to be a tall metal-like crown on its head. The boy's eyes grew. __A spirit_. The angel smiled "I'm glad you can see my guardian ghost, I would not wish for you to take this event as a human would." She leaned in close to the boy as the spirit seemed to disappear inside her; she cupped the green haired boy's face. "When you'll wake up I'll leave a small gift with you, so you will not be alone."

_She leaned in a bit more leaving little space between them, before she closed off the whole space the boy opened his mouth, "Is there a way I can thank you?"_

_She looked at him and smiled "I have no need to be thanked, but if you wish to thank me there is one thing……do not avenge your parents' death, do not blame the humans that burned them alive and move on."_

_"My parents?" the boy asked._

_The angel moved in and in a second her lips touched his. He felt warmth and the pain he had before left completely. As his eyes seemed to become heavy he heard her voice once again. "Once more thing, please stay away from the fire and do not get burned."_

_With that she turned her back to him and walked away, the short haired blond following behind._

_Then his eyes gave in as he slept......................_

_......._

_......._

_Drip._

_Drip._

___Water?_

_Drip._

_Drip._

_The boy opened his eyes, and saw a pixielike girl looking at him with a huge smile on her face._

_"You woke up." She said "I knew you would. Though you kept me waiting a long time." the small pixie girl said._

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_"You kept me waiting a long time." A small girl said._

_ The small girl was sitting on an impossibly huge white bear with shining golden armor, both in the position where the sunlight hit well, illuminating the girl's coal-colored spiky hair. The small girl jumped off the bear and walked over to the blond girl whom she was speaking to._

_The blond girl could pass as a goddess, her amazing long golden hair shimmered in the sunlight, her perfect body figure wasn't well hidden under the tight red cloak she wore to hide her Native American-like uniform, showing only her tall white mid-thigh moccasin shoes, her hand griping one of her legs tightly._

_"Nani?" the blond asked in a surprisingly beautiful sound of voice, like a group of soft shimmering bells._

_The girl winced at the sound of the goddess's voice, then her expression turned curious. "How strange," she whispered to herself, "my vision never showed you being so pretty. But it's quite chilly, even more so for you, don't you think?" she added with a gentle smile, then the small girl noticed the blonde's hand on her leg. "Oh? Did you hurt yourself?"_

_"I'm not hurt," She forced herself to get up, and she did, but not without feeling a sharp stab of pain on her right leg._

_"My oni-chan would be impressed by your spirit," the cloaked girl said, with a gentle. "Pretending that you are capable when you're not. But I'm curious…who exactly are you?"_

_"That's my personal secret."_

_ "I see." The girl said '__that's the only thing I can__ see.' The pixie girl mentally analyzed._

_ The blonde kept silent. The pixie girl then looked at her and smiled. "Come with me." She happily told her __'Oni-chan might like you.'_

_ The blonde did as she was told. After all what did she have to lose? She was lead into a small place in the woods filled with tons of people. __'No, not people' the goddess said to herself__ 'Shamans.' She could sense it, each shaman's furyoku. __'78000, 400, 46232…' she muttered in her head as she analyzed each shaman's furyoku as they passed by._

_ The pixie girl stopped as so did the blonde girl. She looked up and saw a boy her age, with long brown hair and eyes. He wore a long brown yukata, and sat on a boulder, he sat with a lazy carefree expression on his face as he watched the sunrise._

_ Around him sat four people around his age. A pink haired girl with soft peach like skin, but harsh looking rose eyes. A red wavy-haired girl who looked just about maybe two years older than her, a blank expression on her perfect face. A tall and leaner boy, with locks of unruly blonde hair, a serious -but deadly- look on his face. And finally a green haired boy with two spikes of hair on each side of his head, he looked strong but troubled in his emerald eyes, his expression was only serious._

_ The lazy expressioned brunette turned his head, a sudden burst of wind blowing back the hood of the blonde's red cloak, and the boy's chocolate eyes grew as they met with the blonde's._

_ They gazed at each other for what seemed like hours, until the brunette looked away._

_But it was too late. She __saw._

_ She saw as the boy gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, she heard as he mentally asked himself '__What the heck is wrong with me?', but out of all the things, she heard the sound of both their hearts pounding loudly._

_ And to distract himself from the harsh beating of his heart he gave the blonde a lazy smile and approached her, "And you are?"_

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_"I thought you hated me."_

_ *chuckle* "How little you know me...on the contrary I am quite fond of you."_

_------------------------------------_

_"I told you to stay away from the fire, you didn't listen."_

_ "He's not a bad person."_

_ "You're right…he's the uttermost evil."_

_------------------------------------_

_"Nothing can destroy the fire, that's what the future shows. The fire surpasses all except…"_

_ "Except for what?"_

_ "His only friend."_

_--------------------------------------_

_ "That fairy was the thing she left you so you wouldn't be lonely. It's the only thing you'll have of her when she leaves your life."_

_ "Why does she have to leave me life! Why can't she feel what I feel for her?"_

_ "She can't."_

_ "Why?"_

_ "It's not justice for her to love someone on the side of the fire. Even if you are a kind boy, she cannot."_

_--------------------------_

_"You'll get in huge trouble if__ they find out."_

_ "Ha, I'm already breaking all the rules; why not break the ones I want to?"_

_ "Because they'll kill you."_

_ "But you're worth it."_

_-----------------------_

_"I'LL KILL HER!"_

_------------------------------------_

_"I'm sorry there are so many things I have to apologize to you for."_

_ "Apologize? The only thing you have to apologize for is even thinking of leaving me."_

_"I'LL BRING YOU DEATH! IF YOU'RE WITH ME THERE IS ONLY DEATH IN YOUR FUTURE."_

_ "…"_

_ "You're a good person,___. I love you. But that's why can't stay."_

_----------------------------_

_"A child?"_

_ *pant* "I'm sorry, sis."_

_ "Why on earth are you giving birth to a child!?"_

_--------------------------------------_

_"She doesn't have any furyoku. Only…rieryoku."_

_ "So that means…"_

_ "She's exactly what she told you she was from the beginning."_

_-----------------------------------_

_"A fox in disguise that is what I am. And you…a royal shaman, the Shaman Queen."_

_ "That doesn't mean you have to kill me."_

_ "On the contrary, it means I have to eat your soul."_

_ "He'll hate you for this."_

_ "Ha, he already does."_

_ "AAAAGHHHHHH!"_

_-------------------------------_

_"I saw it! I saw his death! I saw all their deaths and wasn't able to tell them!"_

_ "It's not your fault; you just didn't see it on time."_

_ "This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for __her. __She caused their deaths! I hate her! Her and all of her family!" -*sniff*- "That's why I won't help you."  
_

_---------------------_

_"Ahhhh! AGH!!!"_

_---------------------_

_"For their treachery her and the child must be killed"_

_----------------------_

_"NOOO!"_

_------------------_

_'……I'm sorry'_

*****

Hao jumped up, his heart pounded hard against his chest, his entire body was drenched in sweat. Only three words came out of his mouth as he took in deep amounts of breathe.

"What. The. Hell?"

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**OKAY I'LL ADMIT ONE THING. THIS CHAPTER GAVE ME GOOSBUMPS WHILE I WROTE IT. MAN.**

**I KNOW. I KNOW. MORE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. BUT HEY I LIKE A GOOD STORY THAT LETS THE READER FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON.**

**NOW THE REASON THIS CHAPTER TOOK A WHILE WAS BECAUSE MY DAD TOOK OFF THE INTERNET (TAT WUZ DUMB OF HIM) AND I COULDN'T UPLOAD IT UNTIL WE CHANGED INTERNET SERVICES. SORRY~~**

**NOW FOR THE RESPONSES AND THX TO MY AWESOME READERS WHO REVIEWED.**

**Shanishan: **_I'M GLAD U LIKED IT. NOW I WONDER HAVE U READ THE STORY BEFORE THIS ONE? U MIGHT HAV 2...TO UNDERSTAND THIS ONE A BIT U KNOW. BUT THX FOR REVIEWING I HOPE TO KNOW IF YOU ALSO ENJOYED THIS CH._

**Maya Aquaria:** _GLAD TO KNOW UR STILL ON BOARD READING MY STORIES ^-^ AND THANK YOU. I'M NOT GOING TO STOP, U DONT HAV 2 WORRY BOUT TAT._

**Suprema Omnyoji No Kami Sama:** I'M SOOOO SORRY BOUT THAT U SEE I 4GOT ALL BOUT THIS STORY AFTER I UPLOADED DA FIRST CH A FEW MONTHS BAK. 4GIVE ME! BUT I BELIEVE U MIGHT BE MY STORIES' #1 FANATIC READER! ^-^ ARIGATOU.

**ANYWAY I HOPE YOU GUYS ALL ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER. **

**AND PLEASE ****R&R**** AND LOTS OF ****COMMENTS**** TOO SO I CAN KNOW IF YA'LL LIKED IT.**

**-Crystel Hidalgo/YohAnna4eva**


	6. I Am Weak

**TAMAO'S P.O.V ****(my fans please forgive me)**

Pitch black.

That was all I could see. It's like one of those dreams you have where all your senses are robbed of you, you hear, see, feel, and taste nothing.

Something like what Master Yoh had to go through in the Yomi cave.

But I am not dreaming and I know I'm not inside the Yomi cave…

Then why am _I_ without my senses? I know I'm not as smart as Miss Anna, but I know that this isn't normal, that this…that this isn't…right.

Was it that dream? Am I awake? Of course I am don't be so dumb Tamao! Even you know that when you have a nightmare you always wake up.

What was it in that horrible dream that supposedly woke me up? All those yells… they were scary.

I know I am away from my nightmare because I feel pain.

...

Now that I think about it…why_ do_ I feel pain? Why couldn't I move? Why couldn't I scream?

My mind was unbearably clear –sharpened by the fierce pain- I couldn't find an answer to any of my questions.

The pain was bewildering. I couldn't make sense of why I had it

I felt a sharp pain, a burning sensation around my whole body I believe… something is wrong.

It felt like I was cut by an enormous blade in half, trampled by wild animals and dumped into acid, all at once. I felt my insides twist and flip while my outside, impossibly, stood as a rock.

Was I burning? If I am how come no one is coming to help me?

Kami-sama please forgive the rude behavior I am showing, I know, I know, I must be strong but…! Do they not see the fire? It burns! My body, my wrists, my ankles, EVERYTHING!!!!!!

I feel it, I know it's real! They burn as if I was sent into a grand flame of fire and it was devouring every aspect of my body.

Please help!! Manta! Ryu! Amidamaru!!

Why can't anyone hear me?!!!

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mentally wailed.

I felt my body jolt. Have I regained the ability to move?

Though I still can't see. I want to see! I gritted my teeth to hold back the screams I wanted to let out.

But then I realized I just _gritted_ my teeth. So could I move?

Yes it appears I can move now. I opened my mouth hoping a sound would come out of it.

This pain was excruciating! If I couldn't scream how could I tell them what was wrong? How would they help me? _How?_

I could feel the tears begin to form in my eyes. Why did I have to be such a cry baby?

That's when sound escaped my lips, a scream.

I heard it, a scream of pain "AHHHGG!!!"

That's all that came out. All. I couldn't say much more than those sorrowful wails of excruciating agony I felt.

Then I heard a voice, I knew it immediately, I knew it because it reminded me so much of Master Yoh's voice.

It was Mr. Hao's voice.

"What. The. Hell?" I heard him say.

Relief began to wash over me, did _he_ hear my scream?

"Did you see it as well?" I heard Ren asked.

_See_ it? What did they see? Does that mean they _didn't_ hear me? I had my hopes up, a true sign of my weakness.

I am weak. I am weak. Why I am I weak!

Water came down from my eyes, wetting my cheeks, I could feel it.

But how long could this rage of flames go on? How much worse could it get?

That was my mistake. Pure irony. And because of irony _it_ came.

_It_ was an agonizing change.

And change came to my body when suddenly, impossibly, my pain was doubled. The lower half of my body was on fire as well. Some broken connection had been healed –knitted together by the scorching fingers of the flame.

The endless rage burned on.

I heard Hao's voice again. "What did you see?" I heard him ask.

"Possibly the same thing as you and the rest of us." I heard Lyserg reply.

Lyserg was there too? Who else was there with them? Was everyone there? Maybe someone, one of them could hear me if I scream loud enough.

But before I could open my mouth to scream, or yell for help; I heard another scream, an agonizing goose-bumps-down-your-back wail of hurt…though it was not mine.

My motherly worrying instincts took over me. Someone else was in pain besides me, but who? Who?

I wanted badly to know maybe knowing who it was would give me courage and let me retrieve my senses so that I could help them.

I wanted badly to be of some use.

I wanted to help.

"AHHHG!!" the person shrieked leaving a deep ringing in my ears, I felt goosebumps rise on my arms, who ever was screaming was in just as much pain as I was…maybe worse.

There was a strange movement in my surrounding as those shrieks got through, like if everything was being shaken harshly…like if an earthquake had come.

"Annaka!" I heard Mr. Hao gasp.

I heard his rushing foot steps as he ran to his assigned room. I heard him as he asked Miss. Annaka what was wrong.

That made me teary.

Why didn't I have anyone to worry for me?

I knew I was not as stunning as Anna-sama, definitely not as strong or brave. I couldn't even keep myself from crying over little thinks such as this.

I truly am weak.

That is why I was not chosen as Master Yoh's wife. Because of my weakness I would never be a good wife.

I felt my face getting wetter from my tears. Oh why do I always have to cry! Miss Anna told me good wives don't cry over little things. Oh dang these tears, just dang them!

"Why do you cry?" a heard a voice ask.

That voice seemed close as if it was in this very room, but it was not a voice I recognized.

"I know you can speak," -the voice said, it was a male voice, - "I did not numb your sense of speech."

My sense of speech? Numb? My body quivered in fear. I am such a coward.

But this…male had done something, something that according to him numbed my senses, I was frightened. I did not wish to know what else he could do.

I opened my mouth, afraid that the words I would say would shake.

I was right.

"W-who are y-you?" I quivered. My fear could be heard in those three simple words.

I heard footsteps, the male was coming closer, he was coming to the edge of my bed. When the footsteps silenced I was able to open by eyes.

And they grew from the blurred vision of who it was.

At first I could've never guest at whom it was, not until I saw those deadly golden eyes, and that enormous furry gray spirit of his glaring at me.

It was…it was…

**NORMAL P.O.V.** **{after about 10 minutes}**

"KKKYYYYYAAAAAAAAA!!!" someone screamed.

"What was that?!" Manta jumped, startled by the sound.

"It came from Miss Tamao's room!" Amidamaru shouted, grabbing his blade.

Ryu ran over to the room with Manta, Faust, and Amidamaru following close behind.

They reached the door and Ryu twisted the knob.

"Dammit it's locked!" he protested in anger.

"That is not a problem." Faust said mischievously, an evil grin on his face.

He reached into his coat and got out a skeleton head.

"RISE ELIZA, MY BELOVED, RISE!!!" he yelled in maniacal laughter. "_**MEPHISTO E**_!"

Eliza oversouled into her great oversoul of the **MEPHISTO E**, a great robotic like oversoul with demon like wings and tons of painful medical equipment in each hand. She stood tall with Faust standing on her shoulder continuing with his maniacal laughter.

Manta looked on in terror "Wait! Faust-"

"-and now my Eliza," -Faust went on, pointing to the door- "open that door my love!!!"

Eliza drew her arm back and formed her hand into a fist, and then launched her fist at the door.

"AHH! RYU LOOK OUT!!!!!" Manta shouted, frantically waving his hands signaling his friend to move.

Ryu got up and scrambled out of the way, and then with a _**CRASH**_ Eliza knocked down the door.

Dust and pieces of wood and metal flew everywhere leaving nothing but a huge ditch in the wall.

Ryu suddenly entered Tamao's room, alerted by her screams of pain and fear; he went in as Manta began to protest.

"FAUST WE'RE NOT TRYING TO BRING THE HOUSE DOWN!" he shouted now waving his arms rapidly up and down in anger.

Faust scratched his head and studied the ditch in the wall. "I think I may have gotten a bit carried away." He lazily admitted to himself.

"AH! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!" Manta yelled, pointing a finger at him in anger.

Faust looked down at Manta and gave a soft lazy smile "Did you say something?" he asked.

Manta fell to the ground. _"To laidback"_ he mumbled.

"Lady Tamao are you alright?" Amidamaru asked as Ryu threw himself to the side of the bed.

Tamao didn't respond, she held her pained hand tightly against her chest and was rolled into a tiny ball in a corner of the bed.

"Are you hurt"-Ryu asked-"shall I kiss it to make it better?" he puckered up his lips and began to lean towards the pink haired.

"You moron, don't you dare touch Tamao!" Ponchi yelled as Konchi appeared and kicked Ryu in the crotch.

At that moment Faust entered the room with Manta and Eliza behind him.

Manta looked at Tokageru who floated over his injured master.

"Hey skeleton man get over here and treat Tamao." Ponchi ordered, his arms crossed.

Faust walked over and leaned over the bed. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked in his professional tone of voice.

Tamao looked up at him; she showed him her arms and legs. "They burn." She childishly said holding back her tears.

Faust took a good look at them. Tamao's wrists and ankles each had a ring of burned skin around them, they were burned pretty badly.

Faust took out a first aid kit from his lab coat and applied some ointments and creams on Tamao's injuries then he wrapped them up in bandages.

"There." -He finally said- "Just try not to walk on your legs for a while and you'll be fine."

Tamao nodded, she opened her mouth to thank him but was interrupted by Marco's voice form the living room.

"Is there a doctor in the house?!" he yelled as he carried Jeanne in his arms, Lyserg following close behind.

Marco placed her on the couch down side up, the Maiden's back was spewing out blood.

"What happened to her?" Ren raised a brow at the Maiden's injury.

"We don't know. We went to check on her and she was screaming in pain inside the Iron Maiden." Lyserg informed them, his tone all worry.

"She probably just got pricked by one of the spikes in the Iron Maiden" a voice from above suggested. "I wouldn't worry about it."

They all raised their heads and saw Arisu walking on a metal bar in the ceiling. She jumped off and landed on her feet.

She straightened up and smiled.

"10/10!" Chocolove shouted holding up a white sign with the number 10 written on it.

Ren hit him with his Basontou spear, Chocolove fell to the ground, then the Tao got his spear and put it on his shoulder and looked at pixie girl.

"What do you want." He said in a relaxed but menacing tone.

Arisu blinked and stared at the Tao for a few seconds then she just smiled. "I just came to check on how well you all slept." She innocently stated –she turned facing the maiden- "I'm guessing not everyone slept well."

"You have a point."

Heads turned to face the cloaked "Heika" being followed by, an also cloaked, Nagehiko.

The midnight girl looked at her guest, her expression blank. "What exactly happened here?" she asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Arisu immediately replied.

"That's not what it appears to be," "Heika" noticed her eyes fell on the Maiden who was being bandaged by Faust.

"All is well," Jeanne said as she stood "I feel no pain, so there is no harm."

"No harm is an understatement Jeanne-sama!" Marco protested glaring at Wilhelmina and Emmetto who just came through the door.

"Heika" also eyed the two shamans who were just coming in. "Hmm,"- she turned towards the others again- "Where is Asakura Hao?" she asked.

"Hao-sama," Luchist began "is tending to Annaka-sama who also woke up in pain."

"Only the females?" Wilhelmina asked, her eyes always staring with a glare, her face with nothing but boredom.

"Yes."

Everyone turned heads at the sound of Hao's voice. He came in carrying Annaka in his arms. He walked past them and placed Annaka on the couch were the Maiden used to be.

"Whatever happened affected only the females…" he began, --he walked over and stood in front, facing "Heika", with Ren and Horohoro on each side of him, his face was being shadowed by his long brown hair.—"…including my wife."

He raised his head, the strands of his hair no longer his face…though if only it did. If there were any words to describe his anger these would be them:

Asakura Hao was pissed.

Emmetto glared at Asakura Hao's expression which could mean death itself.

"Em, don't you dare." Wilhelmina warned him in a loud whisper, when Jeikobu appeared beside his master.

"Let him." Horohoro said, -as he oversouled in his _**Nipopo Gauntlets**_; the two giant oversouled hand.- "I want to see this bastard try to do something to us."

"Horohoro please stop." Jeanne said as she past by them "There is no need for useless fighting in this case. We only wish for answers."

From the corner of her deep crimsoned eyes the Maiden noted Arisu, who just glared at her with fierce eyes of hatred.

Horohoro, on the other hand, flushed as the warmth of the Maiden's skin reached him as she walked passed him, only two feet behind Hao. "Yes Maiden-chan," he said completely dazed.

Ren prepared his fist, ready to punch some sense into his teammate. Chocolove beat him to it.

"This is no time to be drooling!" he yelled, slapping the lower half of the Ainu's face.

Horo grabbed Choco by the collar and held a fist back ready to punch him. "I told you if you want to live not to EVER do that again!" the Ainu yelled in rage.

Choco began to sweat and waved his hands in front of him. "Call down Horohoro"

"I'll kill you!"

"Hey, amateurs" Hao interrupted –he turned to them with deadly eyes, there was raging fire and burning rage in them, the true definition of deadly- "why don't you two shut up before I **_kill you both_**?" his entire expression was now as deadly and vicious as his eyes.

*gulp*

Horo dropped Chocolove to the floor with a _**thunt**_, both of them were frozen statues full of nothing but terror.

"Now…" Hao continued turning to "Heika", his voice menacing- "about those answers…"

The midnight girl's position was completely relaxed, a small smile formed on her face…it was a smile of amusement.

She then spoke her voice as calm and relaxed as she appeared "What do you wish to kn-"

-Nagehiko got close to her and moved his lips to her ear, whispering something. From where she sat Annaka heard the words as they entered through Nagehiko's head.-

It was one word. _'Ari'_

Annaka turned her head towards the pixie girl's direction; everyone who stood behind her did the same.

Arisu was a frozen statue staring off into space, her face was blank, and when Lyserg looked into her eyes she saw no soul as if it was lost in time.

'_Just like that last time…'_ the green haired noted.

Chocolove, who noticed everyone's stares, went over to the statue and held out a finger to poke her with.

Poke.

Poke.

Poke.

The girl had no reaction.

"We lost her." The dark shaman said in a sad –but noticeably fake- tone. He then pulled out a shovel and held it to the air as he yelled with enthusiasm "Time to bury the dead!"

Ren was about to hit him across the face with the shovel until Arisu finally reacted.

Well sort of reacted.

"Duck" she said blankly, her position without change.

Ren dropped the shovel. "Duck?" he asked lifting a brow.

Luchist looked at Arisu, dumbfounded. "Duck?" he asked questionably, scratching his head with his gun. **(A/N: good kids don't ever try that, and even if you're a bad kid DON'T EVER DO IT!)**

Ari mindlessly nodded.

"Duck?" Marco asked, just as dumbfound as his "friend".

Opacho stared at the girl, searching her mind for the meaning of the word.

She found it.

"Hao-sama duck!" she yelled as she threw herself to the ground.

Then instantly two things happened at once. One) there was an explosion from the roof of the place bringing down groups of hard rock crashing down at the shaman.

Two) some arrow like weapon flew past Emmetto and "Heika", it missed them both by a quick inch.

Then it flew over Hao's head as he dropped to the ground, everyone behind him did the same, managing to dodge it. Everyone except for…

"Lyserg!" Ryu shouted, as he got up from the ground and ran over to Lyserg shoving him out of the way.

Lyserg hit his head against the wall behind him, causing him to go unconscious. And the arrow like weapon got Ryu in his stomach.

"Lyserg!"

"Ryu!"

_**BAMM!**_

There was another explosion from the roof and more rock came crashing down, creating a thick cloud of dust.

"I can't see!" Manta complained, blinded by the dust that was burning his eyes.

Ren stood nearby with his arm covering the bottom half of his face to keep him from breathing in the dust.

"*cough* *cough* Bason!" –Bason appeared beside his young master- "We *cough* must do version 2 of our oversoul now!" he ordered.

"But Bochima! That oversoul requires too much furyoku!"

"Bason just do it!" he yelled back.

Bason followed orders and oversouled.

His oversoul was an enormous giant of Bason with great and strong armor, Ren stood on his shoulder.

"Bason, keep the roof from collapsing on us!" he ordered.

Bason threw his arms up and held the ceiling up in place, keeping the structure from collapsing.

The dust was still thick, but it began to clear up, very very slowly.

It cleared up enough so that they were able to see a shadowed figure, standing in the mist, with two smaller ones beside of it.

Then in the blink of an eye they disappeared in the mist.

"Who are they?" Luchist asked, he looked over towards Wilhelmina and the others they were all there so it couldn't be them.

"Opacho knows it's not them." The small African girl said through the mist.

Luchist looked down at his tiny companion. "Opacho sees they are just as surprised as we are." She finished.

'_Then who?'_ Luchist asked.

"Opacho not sure"

There was great irritation and worry due to the situation our shaman were in.

But suddenly in the middle of the thick fog a tiny light shined through, the shaman watched as the light grew and grew as if it had the rage of a burning fire.

In a way it was a burning fire, it was Asakura Hao.

He stood at the center of the room; his appearance was much like when he fought against team X-III in the shaman fight. His hair stood in spikes, his strong well figured stone chest visible, and his eyes filled with the almost vicious desire to kill.

"Cowards." He muttered under his breathe as the fire raged on growing and growing. "It makes me sick!"

Endless rage of burning fire went on increasing its flames by each passing second.

"Miss Annaka, it's…too…hot." Tamao weakly said, sweat was rolling down her face nonstop. She held her burnt wrists close to her chest _'Igai, it burns!' _

"That bastard's gonna end up killing us all" the Ainu stated, his temper slowly ticking by.

"That's exaggerating too much, Usui." Annaka remarked while she was gasping for air. _'If he doesn't stop he's going to end up killing me……Hao.'_

The blonde was on the floor, nearly gasping for air, her body was growing weak, and her heart was aching as its beats increased as if it were losing time. "Hao…"

"_**KOORI NO YOUSAIV!**_" Horo shouted while he used Kororo to create a great fort of ice around them to shield them from the heat.

"That's not going to hold long Horohoro." Chocolove told him.

"Don't you thing I know that!" Horo retorted –he turned his eyes towards Hao- "What the hell is that bastard doing!"

"Indeed." Marco agreed pushing his glasses up.

"Calm, Marco. There is no reason to begin outbursts" Jeanne told him calmly.

She sat on her knees holding Lyserg's head on her chest, holding him in a soft embrace.

Marco eyed there position and ignored it. "But Jeanne-sama in this heat he will burn us all! I'm telling you he's insane!"

"You can't blame Hao-sama for having outburst like these when it comes to protecting his wife, Marco." Luchist joked. "Right Opacho?"

Opacho nodded in agreement "Hao-sama love Annaka-sama like Yoh-sama love Anna-sama." She happily explained, then her face turned into a frown "Marco does not understand because he never love…and because he is stupid."

Marco glared at the little girl, _'It's just like that time with Asakura Yoh, when he quit the shaman fight to save Tao Ren. His friends said something similar'_

"_Yoh is fighting for the thing he treasures most."_

Marco looked at the Maiden, who had closed her eyes as she held Lyserg's unconscious body close to her.

"_I suppose these things are very hard for you to comprehend. To a person like you, who knows the pain of losing something. But has never loved"_

"Annaka-san are you alright?"

Faust bent over to examine the semi-conscious blonde that with each passing moment was closer and closer to the ground.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"_**jinsei no tsuuka.**_" She said, barely lifting her head to speak, her voice was weak.

Manta looked at Annaka wondering what he should do. Amidamaru appeared beside him.

"Manta, take a look" he said "as Hao's flames increase Ms. Annaka seems to lose strength."

Manta observed for the next seconds, he realized Amidamaru was right.

'_but what does that mean?__** jinsei no tsuuka**__: the passing of life?'_

……_!_

"HAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the blonde screamed.

The ground suddenly began to shake, the building shook angrily bringing itself down piece by piece.

"What's going on!" Horohoro shouted.

"Lucifer! Rise and help keep the building from collision and destruction!"

The viewable flame in the mist disappeared as Lucifer rose to help Bason, both pushing the structure up to keep it from collapsing.

Hao's voice was heard through the rumble of the building. "Annak-"

_**CRASH**_!

The two smallest shadow figures somehow crashed through Horo's wall of ice, the large chunks of frozen ice crashed to the ground, dissolving as they did.

But while the others tried to dodge the falling ice, the small shadows made their way over to the, now unconscious, blonde who lay on the floor.

Surprisingly, due to their size, they grabbed her and picked her up making their way to an exit. But before they made it out a glowing iron cage mysteriously appeared around them, trapping them both.

"I am sorry to have to trap you in a tight oversoul," -the Iron Maiden stepped out from the mist, she was dress now in her battle suit rather than her "night clothes", her face was expressionless, but hard.- "Stealing is the root of many sins, it is listed in the Lord's ten rules that we must follow."

Marco appeared beside her; he took off his glasses and replaced them with another pair. "You have broken one of those rules therefore; this Marco will not let you escape!"

He pulled out his gun and fired at the two shadows, shooting his spirit Michael out in only a second.

As the grand Archangel came at them the tiny shadows looked at each other and then nodded.

Jeanne watched as one of them stepped forward and parted its lips sending out a horrible, cover-your-ears, goose-bumps-down-your-back, high-pitched squeal; which blew Michael of course causing him to crash into a wall.

The Iron Maiden fell back in pain as she felt her ear drums about to pop, her cage-like oversoul shattered as if it were glass.

Then, almost instantly, the figures disappeared into the mist and went out into the darkness of the night taking the old Shaman Queen with them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ah, nothing like a cold shower to wake a guy up!" the young king told himself as he stretched his way out of the bathroom with a towel tied around the lower half of his body.

He walked over to his futon and changed into the clothes that were neatly folded beside it.

Then he placed his headphones over his damp hair and headed out the door.

Cadm sat on the porch of the house while he watched Ohachiyo place trinkets and artifacts on old worn out mats on the ground.

"Heading out early Master Yoh?" Cadm casually asked as he drank from his hot latte.

A smug smiled spread across Ohachiyo's small face.

Yoh laughed as his face turned a light shade of red, "Yeah, I'm going early so that Anna won't have to wait long on me." He explained to them.

Cadm placed his latte on the floor beside him, then he turned to Yoh.

"Do you have everything you need?" he asked.

"I sure do." The brunette smiled.

"Did you get enough sleep?"

"Plenty, as I always do, he he."

"Did you eat breakfast?"

"Before I showered."

Ohachiyo placed him arms behind his head, "Cadm stop stalling and let the red tomato go see his chibi wife." He smirked.

Cadm sighed "very well then. Have fun Master Yoh."

"He he, thanks. I'll be back before it gets dark." With a wave the young shaman left the demon and the Patch.

In an effort to save time he decided to run all the way until he got there.

'_I wonder why Kyoyama-san is out so early today.'_

Yoh slowed down as he heard Shio Misaka's speak in his head.

He looked towards the bench in front of the convenience store where he sat yesterday; sure enough chibi Anna was there.

He also saw Misaka-san standing at the door of the convenience store with a broom in her hand, her grayish-green eyes curiously eyeing the small Anna.

'_I like that outfit she wears, maybe I should buy something similar…but then she would think I copied her. Hmm maybe I could…'_

Yoh then eyed Anna's clothes, he expected seeing her in a short black dress like she usually wears, but Anna was dressed different.

She wore a dress similar to the one Yoh knew, except this dress was white and was over a pink t-shirt, she wore knee high socks and black tap shoes, her long golden waist-length hair was loose as it was yesterday.

And for the cold she had on a jacket similar to the tan duffle coat his Anna wore for the winter.

It seemed very…seven year old to Yoh. He smiled to himself. _'It's going to take me a whole to get use to this change.'_ He noted.

'_Maybe I should go talk to her…'_ Misaka's thoughts interrupted.

There was no need for her to walk over, because at that moment Anna walked over to the tall navy haired girl, her blond hair being blown out of her face by the soft wind.

'_Kawai~'_

"Ohayo, Shio-san." She said in a happy, morning-person, tone.

_-'it's Shio-sensei! Sensei! How many times do I have to repeat myself?'_- "Ohayo, Kyoyama-san, you're here early."

'_A bit too early. Come on you little Kawaiko-chan (cutie-pie), spill!'_

Yoh noticed Anna's grim expression as Misaka's also poured into her head, he decided maybe it would be best to interrupt the conversation.

He walked up to the both of them and held a hand up. "Ohayo." He smiled.

Misaka hadn't looked at towards Yoh yet, her attention was still on Anna.

'_Who the heck interrupts me when I'm about to learn gossip?_' –She turned towards Yoh, her eyes grew wide- _'Oh. Oh my…Cadm's relative looks…yum.'_

–She shook her head- '_two years younger'_ she reminded herself.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yoh looked at himself out of a nearby window.

Cadm had bought him some blue jeans and a white button up shirt, which he had unbuttoned…oh…he had his shirt unbuttoned.

"Ohayo, Yoh-kun!" Anna joyfully responded, trying to distract herself from Misaka's…mature thoughts.

Yoh smiled at her. "Ohayo Anna-chan, ready for our little play date?" he asked in a just as joyful tune.

The small Anna nodded and then came Misaka's loud thoughts once more.

'_Yoh-KUN!? Anna-CHAN?! What?...why~!'_

Anna's head began to ache; Shio-san's thoughts were the loudest she ever heard.

"Oi, Misaka!" a voice called out not to far away.

Yoh looked up and saw Edward standing a few yards away from them. He wore the same clothes as yesterday so Yoh guessed that was his school uniform.

As Misaka excused herself and ran to him, Edward looked at Anna, who stared at the ground, and then looked at Yoh, who stared back. Then with a frown he turned around and walked away.

When they were out of sight Anna let out a sigh and hung her head.

"Shio-san thoughts…are loud." She told Yoh.

"She seemed a bit frustrated that you knew me." Yoh told her, a thoughtful frown on his face.

Without "unhanging" her head, Anna tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear and simply responded "she…finds you attractive."

"Oh…that's…new." Yoh thought about that fact for a while, Anna had simplified her answer according to Misaka-san's thoughts she found him "yummy".

The tiny Anna raised a brow at him, then Yoh quickly added "-I'm just not used to girls thinking that about me." He scratched his head and softly laughed.

"Your wife does."

Yoh felt the blood rush to his head as his body stiffened.

"Yoh-kun?"

The young shaman did not respond, the small blonde eyed him with concern.

Finally Yoh hung his head.

"Gomen, you just startled me a bit…how'd you know about my *cleared throat* wife?"

"Shio-san was constantly reminding herself you were married" –she let out a sigh- "you really shouldn't scare people like that" –she said in a 15-year-old-Anna tone- "I was worried on why your face was turning the same color as one of my scarfs."

"Gomen." He laughed.

The young blonde just smiled and softly spinned on her toes to where her back was now facing Yoh, then she walked and Yoh followed.

While they walked neither of them talked or looked at each other both had their hands in their coats and walked with a soft face.

Then Anna broke the short silence.

"Your marriage…was arranged was it not?" she asked after they walked a few feet.

Yoh nodded "It scared me at first"-he admitted- "I was only 10 when the marriage was arranged."

"Was she pretty?" she suddenly asked, Yoh couldn't help but laugh.

'_Why don't you see for yourself in 3 years?'_ He joked.

Anna frowned "What's so funny?"

"He he, when you grow up you may look a lot like her."

Anna pondered over that. Yoh and her stopped at a drink machine, Yoh sat on a nearby bench while little Anna bought some lattes.

"You're saying I look like her" she said as she pushed the buttons on the machine.

-She gave one of the lattes to him- "You have strange taste."

Yoh opened the latte and brought it to his mouth "Why do you say that?" he asked before taking a sip.

"Because I'm not pretty."

Yoh spit out half the latte that was in his mouth, the other half he choked on.

Anna laughed. "You have some strange reactions."

Yoh couldn't respond, he was still stunned by the child's words.

Anna waved a hand in front of his face "Yoh-kun? _Yoh-_kun?"

Yoh flinched and regained his senses. "Huh? Oh. He he gomen Anna-chan, you just took me by surprise."

"It isn't that hard to do…" Anna muttered under her breath.

The young king smiled and looked up at the clouds, eyeing the calm and perfect blue sky.

"My friend Manta once told me that almost every girl lowers their self esteem when it comes to whether they're pretty or not."- He explained, his eyes not pulling away from the sky- "I just didn't thing that you" –_'or Anna'-_ "would also be like that."

The child eyed him for a bit, then she looked at the ground and gave a soft half smile.

"It's because I always seem so cheerful." She began to explain.

She sat down on the bench beside Yoh; she stared at the decaf in her hands, her eyes turning soft.

"People always think that because one has a smile on their face it means that that person has no worries…but I can see through that."

-Yoh shifted his head to face her as she went on-

"Many people put up a mask, so that no one can realize their worries or their true self. They want to appear strong so that no one can look down at them o give them pity. But, because of my…ability, I can see people's inner hearts. I know what they feel, wish, think, know, everything. So there are certain times in which I don't know when to trust a certain person…that's why I don't have many people who understand me."

"……Anna-chan…"

Anna looked up from her cup and smiled. "Sorry, I got carried away." –She laughed- "Don't let your soul get so upset Yoh-kun, there are many who decide to take off their masks at times and show people their inner souls. In the end that is what makes me happy." '-_And allows me to trust them.'_

Yoh smiled.

Anna looked up at the sky; a small breeze blew her locks of hair away from her face.

"Yoh-kun, how fast can you run?"

"?"

Before Yoh could respond the girl got up on her feet, threw away her latte and ran down the street faster than Yoh could blink.

She stopped when she was a few yards away.

"Come on Yoh-kun!" she yelled and ran once more as Yoh got up and chased after her.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Is she asleep?" Jane asked raising a brow at the small Italian blonde on the sofa.

Pirika looked up at her and said "Not entirely. Asanoha slapped her unconscious."

A shiver went down her spine as she said Asanoha's name, Jane smiled.

Jun looked at the blonde, then at the usually hyper energetic girl who slept close to her, her attention went back to Mari.

"I wonder what it is about maids that made her react like that." She pondered, she searched in her head for a reasonable answer…nothing came up.

"Childhood." Kanna simply said.

Everyone turned to look at her, their eyes all curious. Kanna didn't notice until she looked up from the keys she was swinging around in her hands. When she noticed their gaze she dropped the keys.

She frowned. "What?" she asked. She hates being stared at for no damn reason.

"Her childhood?" Pirika began "Aren't you going to explain? This could be something my brother and I need to know if Marion is going to be under our care."

The irritated cerulean thought about that, then shrugged. "It's in the past, just like every other dreadful thing in our lives."

"Sure it is." Asanoha sarcastically stated. "There's no reason to tell of ones past if that is their weakness."

Kanna snorted "Our past being our weaknesses, your kidding right?" –Her face got serious- "Our past is our past, we have no reason to think or talk about it."

"Are you sure about that?" –Asanoha asked menacingly, something, her purpose was hidden deep inside her eyes.-

"!"

"One's past makes them who they are." She went on in a more calm tone "Asaha Douji's rage and disgust against all humans was due to my death, making him trust no human. Asakura Yoh's easy going mood came from Asaha's human side, the side that understood everyone. Everyone's past turns them into themselves."

Jun nodded "Ren's personality came from our father's teachings of survival of the fittest. We never interacted with real people, only corpses, thus we grew up surrounded by death."

"That's too cruel even for the heir of an old shamanic family." Macchi protested as she awoke from her small slumber, she rubbed her big purple eyes with her hands.

Jun shrugged and took a sip of the tea in her hands. "We didn't know any other kids our age so we thought all the cruel training was normal."

Macchi shuddered.

Pirika looked at the orange haired girl with eyeing curiosity. "Matilda…you…have a horrible past don't you?"

Macchi shifted herself so that her back was facing everyone; she softly clutched one of her hands. "We Hanaguimi, all suffered from our times with humans…we know most of all Hao-sama's hate towards humans…"

"Mati…" Kanna warned.

Macchi went on ignoring her teammate; she held her broom close to her chest.

"I…would tell my parents about how I would talk to spirits and enjoy myself. They kept telling me to stop, but I wouldn't. One day I went to a rusty old dark abandoned mansion, curious of what I could find in there. There I met Jack…"

She clutched her broom tighter; her heart was aching from all the images that went through her head. Everyone except Kanna listened with interest.

Kanna just looked at the floor her long blue hair shadowing her face.

"I was interested in his stories of all the things he'd done when he was alive. When I told my parents of the stories I was told, they looked at me with great fear, they told me not to speak of that, they were shaking and took many steps away from me, like if I was a vicious monster. I didn't understand why, but eventually I found out…

"There was a rumor going around the town saying I showed signs of being a witch, spending my time in a dark mansion, speaking to spirits, and my unsociable behavior towards normal people. The town did everything to try to get rid of me."

Jun shifted her weight uncomfortably, even if Macchi's back was to her, with the pain in her voice she could sense the agony in her voice.

"They threw stones and bricks at me when I would walk by their houses, leaving me many bruises on my body each passing day. They would come in angry mobs to my house to yell 'GET THAT CURSED WITCH OUT OF OUR TOWN'. By the time the fifth mob came to our house my parents fled…leaving me all alone in this cruel world full of humans.

"One day I fled to where Jack was, there I made this" –she held up her pumpkin doll- "'I want a friend' I told him. That's why I made the doll. Then I decided to go back home that night…that was a big mistake."

"Mati, you don't have to explain this to them," Kanna said to her, she was trying hard to shake back the anger that was bubbling up inside her. "That's enough-"

"SHUT UP!" the girl shouted in protest. She got up glared at Kanna with tears streaming down her face. "I DON'T CARE! I DON'T CARE!" she continued shouting.

"Do you know what it's like, Kanna?! DO YOU!? Do you know what it's like to walk home happily through the dark night with nothing but the moon's light to guide you home, and then the mob finds you and instead of doing the expected yelling and shouting they've always done they…they…" –Her voice began to shake, followed by more tears just pouring out of her purple eyes- "…they throw a gang of five guys at you, who launch you against the wall and you wail in agony, but all they do is laugh, _AMUSED_ by the sound of your screams!!!!! And then they snatch you and tie you down, where one by one they begin to rip their clothes off, as the mob shouts 'RUIN THE ONLY INNOCENT THING SHE HAS IN HER LIFE' or 'PREVENT HER FROM _EVER_ MAKING MORE OF HER KIND!'"

For a while she didn't say anything, her legs shook hard and she fell to the ground, the tears kept coming down but she did not cry. She stared at the floor to keep herself looking at the faces staring at her. She opened her mouth to go on, each of her words shaking.

"And when you begin to think _'If this is what they want to do, how can I stop them? What can I do about it I'm just a witch, nothing more to them?'_"

-She raised her head to look at her pumpkin doll; Jack was turning his head to look at her-

"You hear other screams besides yourself and you don't open you eyes to look, but you know what's going on. They were being slaughtered by a doll, a doll that decided to defend me because I was his friend. Then you finally open you eyes and see a pumpkin face looking down at your cold naked body, he takes off his cloak and puts it over you to keep you from being exposed when you already are.

"And then he takes you back to his home where you cannot sleep because you begin to think all about those people being slaughtered and it was all because of you being a damn witch! And you were about to lose your tiny innocence but was saved in the nick of time. How unfair life was to me and those people."

No one said a word. There was a long silence full of sorrow. Bailong walked over and picked Macchi right off the ground and laid her back down on the couch. From there she did not move an inch.

"Do you see now?" Kanna demanded, her voice showing all signs of irritability. "This is why we do not tell of our pasts, it's pointless to be acting like that."

She pointed to Macchi who had now fallen asleep, Kanna shook her head.

"One thing still bothers me…" Jane said out loud to herself.

Pirika shifted in her seat uncomfortably "Really?" She asked "The whole story bothers me."

Jane shook her head, she placed her hands neatly on her lap. "I mean not the story, but the actions of the story."

Pirika grabbed her head. "Headache. Please speak normal Japanese."

Before answering, the blue haired Priestess got off of her chair and checked her long 1860s style green dress, she smoothed it down before she walked over to the sleeping Hanaguimis.

She placed a soft pale hand over Marion's head pulling back the long strands of loose hair.

"Kanna," –Kanna angled her body to look at her- "Hanaguimi has a…phobia of boys, am I wrong?"

Pirika, Jun, and Asanoha jerked up their heads and stared at Kanna, faces all completely awed.

Kanna stiffened and looked away from the audience staring at her; they heard some very quiet cursing as the girl presumably fumbled for a bottle of water next to her.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Damn that Maiden…why does everyone in her damn family have to be so damn observant!" **[A/N: By the Maiden's family she includes Anna]**

Jane frowned at the cursing, but seemed to have ignored it; she waited patiently for Kanna to answer.

Kanna didn't want to answer, but she sighed. "Yeah we do. Sue us." She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her water, avoiding eyes contact from anyone.

There was that uncomfortable silence again, but this silence was filled with a room full of wide eyes and questions flying through each head.

Pirika opened her mouth "How can _you three_ be scared of-"

Kanna glowered at the small Ainu; Pirika closed her mouth and hid behind a pillow.

Kanna turned her backs to them; Ashcroft appeared beside her, looking at her with great worry.

"Miss Kanna-"

"-Let's go Ashcroft, we got severe training to do." She strictly ordered -interrupting her spirit and walking up the stairs before he could say another word.

"You don't have to tell us _your_ reason." -Asanoha looked over to the sleeping flowers- "Just _their_ reason."

Kanna stopped dead in her tracks, you could practically hear the glare in her voice as she said "I'd rather die then reveal those things about my teammates."

She began pacing up the steps one by one. Asanoha smiled to herself and closed her eyes.

_Kindness to one's allies is a sign of weakness not loyalty. Friendship is useless; it's just a simple tool to use. If you give in to it then you're kind, and kindness is just another word for weakness._

_-Asakura Hao, 500 years ago_

"You're weak." Asanoha stated. '_In his eyes'_

Kanna stopped once more; she tightened her fists and looked back. "If loyalty to team Hanaguimi, made by the man who saved me from death, is weakness…then I am weak."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Anna-chan, wait up" Yoh yelled out as he stopped to catch his breathe.

How long have they been running? Yoh was sure that it was a very long time because the sun had changed its position. Yet it seemed that Anna-chan wasn't tired yet…how is that possible?

Little Anna-chan looked back at him and ran over to where he was. She eyed him carefully then straightened up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for us to run so far." She told him apologetic.

*Pant* *pant* "It's okay, it was…a new record for me to run this much."

He crumbled to the ground in exhaustion. He laid there for a few seconds to catch his breathe. It was amazing how fast Anna could run, she ran for a pretty long time too.

Suddenly the sun was blocked out of his view by a hand, a small cup of water in its grasp.

He heard Anna's soft melodic voice. "Peace offering." She sang and gave him the cup.

Yoh laughed and sat up; he gave a quick sip and then looked at where they were.

He dropped his cup when he realized where they were.

It was a grand meadow, one that reminded Yoh of the one he had seen inside the Great Spirit. The grass sweetly moved in rhythmic unison with the wind, which howled softly through the beryl trees.

Yoh was speechless.

Anna smiled "Alluring, isn't it?" she asked looking at the place with a small shine in her eye.

Yoh nodded, "I'd never pictured a place so beautiful."

"Neither did I, until it I found it." Anna proudly said.

Yoh smiled.

She smiled.

"Oi, why is Kyoyama-san here?" they heard a voice ask.

The voice didn't seem friendly, the way she said those words, Anna's name especially, sounded as if she said them out of disgust.

Yoh turned to look.

A girl around Anna's age stood there, she had long light purple hair that was in two loose pigtails and her eyes were the same color as her hair.

Yoh had to admit the small girl was cute but compared to Anna, well…

The girl glared at Anna with a long look of extreme dislike on her face.

"Why are you here? I don't need to see such a revolting face around this place. It just ruins the mood." The girl insulted.

Anna got up from the grass and angled her body to where she could face the girl; she dusted off her dress before bowing and softly saying

"Konichiwa, Shio Yui."

The girl she called Yui glared at her with her light lilac eyes. She walked up to Anna and stopped dead in front of her.

_**SLAP!**_

Yui smacked Anna across her face with the back of her hand. Anna fell back into the ground; she fell flat on her face and covered herself in dirt.

Behind him, Yoh saw many spirits suddenly appearing, tons of them too, they all evil eyed the lavender girl.

He heard hissing and growls from where the spirits were, he saw that they looked as if they would go over there and deal with the girl their selves.

Yoh suddenly knew that feeling as well.

"How dare you speak my name in such a friendly matter." The girl retorted "Go to hell you roach."

Anna rose from where she was with a huge red hand print on her right cheek. She looked glumly at Yui.

Yui kicked her in her gut, Anna fell back once more, she hit a tree that was to her side, and she flinched in pain.

"Anna!" Yoh shouted, he got up and went to her ready to hold her in his arms.

He bent over to touch her, but…he couldn't.

He tried again.

Nothing.

"Anna!" he shouted once more.

But Anna seemed as if she didn't see or hear him. She looked on, her face completely blank.

Yui looked once again disgusted by Anna's presence. "You've got nothing to offer." –She insulted once more- "You're entirely weak."- she turned around and walked away, but not before calling out- "I told you once to stop leading men away from my older sister…you just never listen."

She paced off as if taking her time to wait for Anna to get up again. Anna stayed down to the tree, she didn't move until Shio Yui was completely out of sight.

Then she stood. "Take that look off your face, Yoh-kun, I'm fine."

Yoh blinked. Did Anna-chan just sound like…

'_Like my Anna?'_

Yoh shook his head. "Are you really alright?"

He reached over to touch her again, this time he was able to. He slowly walked her over to his arms, he softly embraced her.

"I'm fine." She muffled. "She does that a lot to me."

"Why?"

He dusted her off as she pulled away from his embrace.

"She dislikes me because she thinks I avoid Shio Misaka's chances when it comes to boys." She explained.

Yoh didn't quite understand. It was all over his face. Anna smiled at his puzzled look and went on.

"Shio Yui is Shio Misaka's younger sister, I know it should be the other way around but Yui is a bit protective over her older sister's happiness…"

Yoh nodded; he was starting to catch on…or at least he thought he was.

"My brother left his lunch at home one day, so mum and I decided to go and drop it off during his lunch hour at school. When we opened the door to the classroom everyone was staring at us…their thoughts disgusted me greatly. My brother noticed me getting one of my headaches and decided to leave the classroom. I gave him his lunch and when he went back into the room everyone began asking him…questions."

Yoh decided to skip past being in shock of _Anna_ having a _brother_.

He thought he had enough shock for one day, but his curiosity began to pick at him. "What did they ask him?"

"They said perverted things to him, asking him who we were, when someone asked if we were his girlfriends, wife and child, and a bunch of other idiotic thing he spoke up and said _'don't suppose such stupid things…that was my mother and sister'_."

Yoh bit his lip not to laugh. Anna went on.

"Misaka got picked on by her friends and classmates saying that my brother did not find her attractive because he lives with gorgeous women at home. Ever since then Yui had been on my case, telling me to stay away from her sister's…lovers."

Yoh began to understand, in a way Misaka was jealous of Anna and Yui was the one doing something about it.

But what was Yui going to do?…since she can't stop Anna from being pretty, she can just bully her until she decides to leave town.

Suddenly Yoh didn't like Shio Yui very much. But he wanted to know a good reason why someone would be that mean to Anna…well _this_ Anna at least.

_But why would she do this to you?_ He wondered, then he slowly parted his lips to ask one more thing.

Anna answered him before he could ever ask the question.

"I let her do this to me because it satisfies _her._ I do not like to see other people suffer because of me, so I do what I can. If doing this," –she pointed to her bruises and grimy white dress- "makes her happy then I'm fine."

Yoh carefully eyed the evidence that Shio Yui left behind, his eye looking over every inch of the small blonde's body to look for damage.

He noticed a bruise forming on the cheek where she had been slapped, then a few cuts to where she ran into the tree.

"How long has she been doing this to you, Anna-chan?"

Anna bit her bottom lip. "…every day for three weeks."

Yoh felt a lump begin to form at his throat. Three weeks, he knew what that meant. She'd been here a month and after that first week……

He winced. Anna noticed.

"I'm fine with it." She told him not bothering to look him in the eyes. "I'm…" –tears began down her eyes- "I'm use to being hated."

"…Anna…-chan…"

"There is no use in crying small child." A voice from behind them spoke.

Yoh froze……that voice, he knew it well. Kami-sama could shoot lighting down to strike him if he was wrong…

Anna cleared her eyes with her sleeve. "Fufufu." –She looked behind Yoh- "You came to visit me again," she said in a new happy tone. "Mr. Matamune."

__________________________________________________________________

**DONE! GAH THE NEXT CH. IS GOING TO BE QUITE A CHALLENGE TO WRITE. 0~0 **

**WELL PEOPLE I REALLY NEED TO KNOW HOW I'M DOING HERE, SO I'M JUST ASKING FOR SOME REVIEWS…SO ONEGAI!!!**

**WELL I HAVE **

_**Maya Aquaria: **__** ARIGATOU, WELL IT GAVE ME GOOSE BUMPS WRITING IT SO I'M GLAD I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE HAHA.**_

**WELL SINCE I ONLY HAD ONE REVIEW FOR THE LAST CHAPTER I'M PRETTY DISAPOINTED WITH MYSELF… :(**

**I WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD REVIEW, I WAS THINKING OF ONLY UPLOADING A NEW CHAPTER IF I GOT AT LEAST 3 REVIEWS FROM THE PREVIOUS ONE BUT…I DECIDED TO BE GENEROUS FOR A BIT LONGER :)**

**Crystel Hidalgo/ YohAnna4eva**


	7. For the Love of All That Is Holy, No

**LITLLE ANNA'S P.O.V**

I ran as fast I as could to my road, I wondered why Yoh-kun thought I ran fast. Do I really run that fast?

He did look a bit exhausted when he couldn't run anymore…

I sighed. I felt bad. Mr. Matamune had come to visit me again and I had to leave him and Yoh-kun because the sun was setting.

Dumb sun.

I saw the trees as they went _**wooshing**_ pass me while I kept running, i was amazed that i could see them as I ran, not many people can do that...at least I think they can't.

I loved to run, it was a peculiar sensation, the balance between my speed and the almost clarity of everything as a passed it.

Oops. There I go again talking way to mature for my age…I always wondered why I spoke like I was older than my age.

I had heard _some_ of Yoh-kun's thoughts today. He had tons of questions going in and out of his head, somethings about the way I spoke.

So I really did speak too old for my age, I wonder why that is?

Just when I was starting to think about my question I skidded to a stop, making a large trail behind me. I had arrived at my house.

Well, I _really_ don't consider it a house seeing as how big the land we own is.

My house occupies 6033 tsubo. **[A /N: 1 tsubo is 3.3 square meters, so it's a huge house]**

I never agreed to such a large house, but my father insisted saying the space was needed.

_I_ know what he meant by that. He meant I needed that space so that I could stay locked up in the house as if I were already living in a town, that way there would be no need for me to go outside.

My father…thinks I'm dangerous.

I've heard him think it many times. You see, where we use to live there were too many people, therefore when ever I went into a crowd my head would ache and…bad things would happen.

A chill went down my spine, I should know better than to think of the past. The past only ruins the present…at least that's what my brother says.

I opened the gate doors and closed then behind me, then in about 5 second I ran to the door of my house, opening it slowly just incase mum was asleep.

Instead I saw my brother putting up his uniform.

He turned to look at me, his expression as it always is…blank. "Did you enjoy yourself today?" he said glumly.

I frowned. No greeting, no hello, no nothing. Just going straight to what he thought was important, that was my brother for you.

I nodded my head, then he began his lecture.

"You know you're not supposed to leave our land for so long, who knows what the hell will happen…" His sentence trailed off, but even though he didn't finish it, I heard what he was going to say.

'_Who knows what the hell will happen with you out there.'_

My brother is very observant. He knows something is wrong with me, but he doesn't know of my ability to get inside everyone's heads.

I looked at the floor. Our father raised my brother to make him think I was a threat to humanity. Of course my brother knows me more than dad does.

He thinks I'm too kind.

He walked over to me and lowered himself to my level, his brown eyes right in front of mine.

He saw the bruise on my cheek. _'What the hell.'_

"What happened?" he asked me. He noticed the scratches on my body and he took off my coat so he could get a closer look.

"Ran into a tree while running." I lied, hoping he would be fooled as I always fooled him.

He shook his head. _'It's because you run too damn fast.'_ I heard him think. _'…at inhuman speed...'_ He added.

Yup, way too observant. At least he believed me.

I hate lying, but it's what keeps me from ending up locked up somewhere where I'll be examined by mad scientists.

"You're too careless Anna." He sighed. _'But as all the other bruises and scratches you come home with everyday…they should be gone soon…as if you can heal yourself.'_

He patted the top of my head and then turned around and walked up the stairs to his room.

I took off my shoes and walked up to the bathroom. I replaced my filthy clothes with my pj's which is just a huge white t-shirt that covers me down to my knees.

Then I put on a yukata and was about to go out the door before I looked at myself in the mirror.

The bruise on my right cheek was very noticeable. I cupped my cheek with my hand. I always end up with some mark on me after Shio Yui comes and does something to me.

I didn't really lie to Yoh-kun when I said I'm fine with her treating me this way. As long as it makes her happy…

'_I know what that feels like'_ I heard him think. In his head I saw a picture of a girl who looked like me but older. I guess that was his wife, Anna.

I smiled. Yoh-kun was kind and understanding.

I pulled my hand back down to my side and saw that the bruise was now gone.

It didn't surprise me though; I was kinda use to that happening…

I closed the door behind me as I walked past my brother's room and entered mine, and threw myself on my futon.

What else had I to do? I don't have any friends, just spirits and I can't talk to them when I'm at home because father might have a camera hidden somewhere to prove that I need to be send away.

I sighed and laid on my right side, I could see out my window that way.

The sun was now disappearing from the sky, slowly going down so that darkness could rule over now.

Another day at an end…

For some reason I thought about Yui…

What if one day she is cheerless and distressed and she does not find me, so she cannot let her unhappiness out, the grudge she has for me stays inside her heart…and that same day…her life is at an end…

I shivered. I do not wish to think of those things.

My father I use to ask him a lot how he could stand being around blood…that vivid crimson liquid that at many times meant death itself.

He told me he…got use to death. He saw many of his patients pass away, and many times I saw their spirits...preparing themselves to reach Nirvana.

Though I still do not know how he can stand death.

But of course he…is a cold blooded man.

I shook my head again. Why must I always think of these things? Why must I know what my father thinks when it comes to things like these? Why do I have this power?

Maybe if I didn't have this power I wouldn't have many problems.

We wouldn't have had to move out of our old town, then my brother would have never met Shio Misaka, and then Shio Yui wouldn't be so cruel to me.

Shio Yui…

My fist clenched themselves without me noticing, but I did not release their grasp.

Instead I thought.

Yui has one of the most impure minds I've ever heard in my seven years of life.

Her mind is full of hate for those who do not do as she wishes, those who are prettier than her, and those who do not worship her.

She knows it's because of her beauty that people follow her, not her character. I see it in her head. In class she hardly speaks, she keeps quite, but when she does talk her tone is icy cold.

I do not understand how many can like her.

If it's because of beauty, then I agree, Yui has a lovely face for one who is only nine years old. Misaka too, she has unique eyes…

Then why do they find _me gorgeous_?

I suddenly became irritated. I do not know why. But a burning fire began in me growing and growing.

Then I knew why.

I was ticked. I was not pretty and yet just because _she_ found me pretty she decides to treat like an animal. As if my looks were completely inhuman.

I did nothing to her, and she comes and does these awful things to me, hurting me greatly.

It didn't matter if I could heal fast, if I let her do this so she could be happy…

As I pondered these things inside my head my body shook, it shook roughly in anger, then I knew what was going on when my head began to ache…

I screamed, a scream so ear-pitching that even my own ears hurt, but that was nothing compared to how bad my head was agonizing me.

I was hearing it. _Her_ thoughts were all shoving themselves into my head, each pushing with great force to get inside.

Her desires, wishes, hopes, everything I had heard of her these last three weeks were attacking my head.

My eyes shot open and I saw white balls of transparent fire hovering around me, more and more appearing each second.

I couldn't take it anymore; I let out a huge wail of pain, I heard my door slide open behind me.

I knew who it was, though I wish he didn't come because now his thoughts were mixing in with the ones that were killing my head.

"Anna, what's wrong!" my brother shouted, pulling my body towards him so that my body faced his.

He shook me. "Anna what is it, come on!"

Then I heard familiar foot steps rushing into my room. It was mum.

"Anna!" she worried "Is it hurting again?! Anna sweetie, please tell me!"

I didn't respond, I was trying too hard not to let out another scream, but it was hard.

Then I felt something rush out of me in a quick motion, as if something had left me.

The transparent balls began to _**woosh**_ around and around in circles, and they escaped out the window; I saw a huge light appear and then I heard I loud wail.

This wail was nothing that I had ever heard before, only in movies, it sounded as if it were the shrieks of a monster.

My eyes grew huge, I could not see the creature or whatever it was that was out there now. But I could feel I strong power glowing from me and the thing.

I heard long footsteps which sounded as if the thing was heavy, very heavy.

Then I heard nothing from it as if it went to a different place.

A new location……

My brother still shook me; he shook me harder each time, yelling out my name along with my mom.

I looked at them, my eyes as big as they could get.

This wasn't normal. Thing like this is not what a seven year old goes through. No, I knew something was wrong with me…

Why did I have to be _this_?

Tears came down my eyes, like the little girl that I was, tears _were_ normal for a little girl right?

My brother looked at me as I winced in more pain, his eyes grew soft. He knew, he knew that my inhuman abilities were doing something to me…I could hear it in his head.

My mum just looked at me; she had never seen me like this. At least, not without something blowing up, or shattering, or breaking before her eyes.

_Those_ were the bad things that would happen when I would scream, not _this_.

I felt my brother put me back in my futon, I didn't understand why, I didn't understand anything anymore.

Then I realized the phone was ringing. And my brother was the one who answered it.

On the other end of the line, I heard someone scream my brother's name frantically.

I froze. It was Shio Misaka's voice.

"Calm down Misaka!" he yelled into the phone.

Shio-san silence, and then slowly but with panic in her voice she explained the frantics.

"I heard glass shatter from Yui's room, and I went to check what it was…there's BLOOD EVERYWHERE!"

I couldn't move, I did not want to move. My heart ached as I heard Shio-san's sobs through the receiver.

Mum reached out and touched me and embraced my frozen body in her arms.

Even though my head ached, and my mum hugged me so tight she could be squeezing the air out of me, my soul was somewhere else.

It was imagining the blood, the mess of the room, the shattering glass, and Yui's body…

My brother was as stunned as me. He looked at me in horror, at my frozen expression, at my stunned body, at my wide eyes that showed the hidden guilt and pain I felt inside me.

"Hello? Hello?"

He looked away. "Misaka, just hold on, okay? I'll be over there soo-"

"I CAN'T WAIT THAT LONG! I THINK WHATEVER/WHOEVER DID THIS TO YUI IS STILL HERE!!"

"What? What makes you so sure?"

"I can hear heavy footsteps and- and-"

I heard an ear-piercing shrieked take over the room and I realized it was mine, the pain in my head suddenly became impossibly fierce, it was unbearable.

But as I screamed in pain I heard Misaka scream in fear on the other line of the phone, and a wail of a monster along with both our screams.

In that small second my mum squeezed me tightly against her, as if she knew i was in a horrid but powerful pain, and inside her embrace I felt a warm and cozy feeling go through me, and, almost instantly ,the pain vanished.

I took long deep breaths, trying to restore my heart beat back to its normal counts, and I looked at my family, no one moved for a long second. we were all worried of had happened on the other side of that phone...finally my brother couldn't just imagine what happened.

"Misaka? Misaka!" He screamed into the receiver.

I held my breath, praying to Kami-sama that she would be fine, that _that thing_ didn't get her too. And I heard her voice.

"I-I'm okay."

"Why the hell did you scream!"

"I-I saw something coming at me and, and-"

She went on trying to explain, but I saw it all through her thoughts over the phone.

Heavy footsteps came at her, leaving imprints of its feet into the floor. Then something shattered beside her, she screamed, dropped the receiver, and in a second there was silence.

She opened her eyes and picked up the phone and she saw Cadm running to her.

Cadm? What was he doing there?

My brother asked the same thing.

Shio-san couldn't explain anymore, she was crying in fear and hurt. She had lost her young sister and had almost lost her own life.

I closed my eyes, tears coming down my eyes; I did not want to hear more.

I knew it. It was my fault, all my fault.

I just stayed there in mum's arms, and I cried myself to sleep, letting the darkness that was coming over me enter…

And I fell asleep.

---

**YOH'S P.O.V. (Cadm's House, the night of Yui's…death)**

"So Matamune, you came to visit!" Ohachiyo happily announced.

We were all sitting in the dining room eating.

I have to admit the food was pretty good too, but I couldn't get over the fact that Matamune knew Anna before he went with me to meet her.

I popped some curry into my mouth and chewed, I was starring at Matamune.

He sat across the table from me, beside Ohachiyo. Cadm was seated beside me.

Matamune took a bit of some fish and smiled at Ohachiyo. "I had come to check up on the child." He said in a professional tone.

"The child is fine, Matamune." Cadm assured him. "I had not seen anything wrong with her, just the usual head aches."

The _usual_ head aches? Did Anna get them _that_ often?

I ate more curry stuffing it into my mouth without noticing I was too concentrated on the conversation.

"How many headaches had she had since she had arrived at this town?" Matamune asked his brows rising as he asked.

Ohachiyo seemed to be counting in his head. "About…257."

I choked on my curry. I began coughing, my chopsticks fell out of my hands and I reached for my glass of water, gulping it all down.

I put it back down on the table when I was able to breathe again.

"Ah," I sighed "I thought I was going to die."

Cadm busted out laughing.

"You are very entertaining at small parties such as these my friend!" he laughed.

I felt the blood rush to my head all the way to my roots. Then Ohachiyo began to laugh with him.

"A bit surprised aren't you?" he asked me.

He casually placed his hands behind his head and leaned back on the chair, in a lazy position that reminded me a bit of myself.

I grinned at him.

"Cadm," Matamune called, reverting back to the task at hand "the child, does she have any friends."

Cadm waited till he swallowed some chicken in his mouth then replied "No."

I jerked my head to stare at him.

Did I not count as Anna's friend? Didn't I just spend then whole day with her and had a fun time?

'_You do not belong in this time, therefore you do not count.' _He explained to me through his head '_It is best for Matamune not to know the reason you are here…and who you are.'_

I understood, well partly. If Matamune knew who I was then that could do something to the way I am learning about Anna's past. At least I think that's where Cadm's going with this…

"I see." Matamune replied, he bit his little pipe and then looked at me. "What about you?" he asked me.

I stuttered "Ano…I-I'm just an a-acquaintance!" I blurted out.

I've never been good at lying to people, and starting with Matamune didn't seem like a good way to start.

I stuffed as much curry as I could in my mouth to keep myself from talking anymore. Matamune just stared at me with a thoughtful expression.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the ground began to shake fiercely.

At first I thought _earthquake?_

But then we heard _it_.

At first I had no idea what _it_ was. All I heard was a horrifying, goose-bumps-down-your-body, screech. I froze and dropped my chopsticks again, this time I didn't bother to pick them up.

Then in an instant everyone, minus me, got up from the table and ran out the door. I stayed at the table, dumbfounded.

Then I pushed my dish away and went after then out the door.

It was hard to catch up with them, they had gone far, I kept running as fast as I could, then I noticed I caught up.

They had all stopped dead in their tracks, staring at something with a look of surprise in their eyes.

I turned to what they were looking at; I felt my eyes grow so big it was impossible to imagine how big they were at the moment.

The thing, _it_ was…an oni.

I could have felt fear.

I could have felt hate.

I could have been alarmed.

I could have been felling so many things right now. But what I felt made no sense, I felt…hurt.

Pain. But not the type of pain you physically feel, this was the one you feel in your chest, and loves to bother you until you're destroyed.

That type of pain.

I knew why too, I just didn't want to admit it…it was too much.

Anna.

I know she did this…maybe not on purpose, but yet the oni was called by her. I knew I was right. It was that same instinct I had five years ago when an Anna's oni attacked me for the first time.

But who could be the victim?

"Cadm…" I began, trying hard not to show the pain I was feeling in my chest.

"This is the Shio residence." He told everyone in a stern tone.

Shio Yui…

He glared at the oni with deep vicious eyes. "This oni is…her first oni."

I flinched. Her _first_ oni?

But it looked so huge! Impossible for it to be her first…then again, this was Anna…

I was too lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice the others run ahead.

I ran after them, my legs were killing me! I need to do some more running soon.

I heard a loud gasp. I stopped and saw Cadm staring into a broken window, I edged closer to look.

I wish I hadn't.

The room was completely destroyed. Glass was scattered everywhere, the furniture was tossed upside down against the walls and floor, but what hit me the most was…

A trail of blood leading to a girl's soulless body…

I didn't have to walk in to check whose it was, I could tell from the two long pigtails of light purple hair.

Yui…

"It seems she got cut by the glass when the oni went through the door, the she curled herself up in a corner while it trashed her room, then it found her cut through her back and ate her soul." Ohachiyo examined.

He got closer to the body and turned it sideways; he looked at the face and sighed.

"I told Cadm that this girl would soon meet her death…" he muttered under his breathe.

I stared down at the ground. I had nothing to say about this. I hate seeing people die for no good reason.

I hate it, but no matter what she did or done…I can't…hate Anna.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" I heard a scream from the other side of the wall, and then at the same time I heard a shriek from the oni. And the ground began to roughly shake.

And it all happened so fast, yet, impossible, I was able to remember it all.

At the sound of the screams Matamune took out his onigoroshi blade and-

_**CRASH!**_

The wall busted open, Matamune jumped through the huge hole that was now at the wall.

I saw Misaka with her eyes closed, the phone fell out of her hand, she had been calling someone-

The oni was coming to her, shrieking its painful wails of death.-

As soon as it launched it hands to penetrate through her fragile body, Matamune jumped and _**slashed**_ his blade.

When I heard the noise the blade made against the wind, I was blinded by a warm light; it didn't seem to fit with the furyoku coming from the onigoroshi.

But when the light disappeared, the oni was gone.

And Matamune was now at my side.

"Curse it!" he mumbled under his breathe. He looked as if he were disturbed.

"What's wrong, Matamune? You just defeated the oni! And I have to admit that light was a nice effect-"

"You saw it too, huh?" he asked me, his big cat eyes staring at Misaka-san, with concern.

Of course I saw it too. Was I not supposed to?

I must have had a puzzled look on my face because he looked at me and said

"The oni disappeared before I even attacked It." Matamune said in a tone that, I guessed, meant he was surprised by the fact.

Could it have been Anna? Or the oni itself?

"_If I go out the oni appears, always making trouble and then disappears"_

Anna told me herself, the oni can disappear on its own. But yet that time…

"_Get away from there now! Yoh!!!"_

At that moment, when Anna screamed, the oni turned back into spirit balls and disappeared.

But at that time Anna was shocked the most, as if that had never happened before…

Then what happened just now?

I looked at Misaka she was on the ground crying, Cadm was talking into the receiver.

"No, she's fine. There's no need to do that, we'll get this mess cleared up soon. Tell me is your sister okay?........mmhhmm…I see. No worries I'm sure she'll be alright by morning."

Was he talking to Anna's brother? I wanted to take the phone out of his hands and make sure little Anna-chan was alright. But I knew that right now I probably couldn't.

Anna was probably in worse pain than me.

I hoped this wouldn't ruin our plans for tomorrow…we agreed to play again.

I sighed. I wonder what was going to happen now; how this would affect Anna…I guess I would find out tomorrow.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why doesn't he wake up?" Tamao asked worryingly, she clutched her sketch book close to her chest.

Arisu smiled at her. "Don't worry," she said patting her on the back "He'll wake up soon!"

Tamao wasn't convinced she looked at the ground.

Arisu looked at her with big curious eyes. "You worry about anyone don't you?" she asked softly.

Tamao blushed, and nodded quickly "I care for many people; I think I worry a bit too much."

Arisu looked away from her and looked dead ahead at the door to the room where Lyserg slept.

"That bothers me," she said absent-mindedly "…the way you worry. It doesn't seem like the way you use to be…"

Tamao blinked and looked at the girl, her expression was dead serious. Ari noticed her staring.

"Ah, sorry." –She waved her hands frantically in front of her- "I didn't mean to say that. Haha."

Tamao gave her a curious look before turning her attention back to the door, wondering what was going on at the other side.

--

"Jeanne-sama, clearly Lyserg will heal in time. There is no need for our presence here." Marco said.

He was a bit uncomfortable in how close Jeanne was to Lyserg at the moment. Faust had told them he could treat Lyserg right away, but the Maiden denied telling him to heal Ryu, while she would heal Lyserg.

Right now Lyserg lay asleep on a cot, his breathing was even, but his face was pale. Jeanne was seated beside him, rubbing his head ever so softly.

She ignored Marco's words.

Marco noticed this and shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"Jeanne-sama," he tried again "We should be in the meeting room helping out on finding a way on how to retrieve Ms. Annaka."

Jeanne shoot him a bored look, she closed her eyes and sighed "Marco, since when do you bother to ponder over such things like Annaka's well being?"

A point for the Maiden. The leader of the X-Laws was speechless.

Jeanne sighed once more. "I am sorry if this bothers you, Marco, but I am only worrying over a…teammate's health. I would not forgive myself if we lost another X-Law…"

Iron Maiden: 2, Marco: 0.

Marco sighed. "Forgive me Jeanne-sama. This Marco is just rather uncomfortable at seeing you so close to a male other than myself."

"Jealousy is not a very holy deed, Marco." She replied.

He gave up and just sat on a chair nearby, crossing his arms in protest.

Jeanne continued to rub Lyserg's soft forehead.

'_Hmm he seems a little warm' _she noted.

She bent over and placed her forehead to his to check his temperature. Marco clutched the arms of the chairs to keep from charging towards the Maiden.

'_It appears I was only mistaking.' _She observed.

Then she felt Lyserg move under her. She didn't move, as he winced and drowsingly opened his eyes.

Jeanne lifted her head one inch off of his and gave a soft smile.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

The wind from her breathe reached Lyserg's face, he opened his eyes all the way and saw how close the Iron Maiden's angelic face was to his.

"Ah, Jeanne-sama!" he blushed all the way to the roots of his skin.

He jerked and sat up straight, Jeanne's face was still and inch away from his.

"Ano...uh...Jeanne-sama…" he stuttered. Jeanne blinked and turned her head slightly.

"We-we're…a b-bit close don't you think?" he asked looking down at his hands nervously.

Jeanne barely noticed how close she was to him until Lyserg pointed it out.

"Oh!" she gasped and pulled away instantly.

Marco cleared his throat. Lyserg turned to look at him, his face still red.

"Ahh, Marco. Sorry I didn't mean to be a burden." He apologized.

Marco looked at Jeanne; there was a small frown on her face as she looked at Marco.

"That's not a problem, Lyserg." He said defensively as the Maiden smiled in approval. "It was not your intention to hit your head, you're forgiven."

Lyserg got off the cot and smiled "I'm glad…but we should probably go to where the others are at, don't you think?"

Jeanne smiled. "That seems like a good thing to do…"

Lyserg walked towards the door as Marco stood and followed with the maiden in front of him.

They opened the door and saw Arisu and Tamao; they were both sitting outside waiting for the X-Laws to come out.

Tamao seemed to be in awe at something that had to do with Ari, who was beaming.

Arisu stood up and flew past the Maiden over to where Lyserg was.

"How are you feeling, Lyserg-kun?" she asked in a happy tone.

She stood at the distance the Maiden was a few moments ago; her face only and inch away from his, only, she seemed to be aware of this.

Jeanne frowned and looked at Marco; Marco pushed up his glasses and placed a hand on Lyserg's shoulder.

"Lyserg," he said in a blank voice "we really should get going to where the others are."

Lyserg shoot him a grateful look, while Arisu was all but grateful. She glared at Marco and then at Jeanne.

Then she took a step back towards Tamao.

She turned her back towards then and hid her eyes with her bangs, and walked off, leaving an angry aura between her and the Maiden.

Jeanne closed her eyes and said "We really should get going." Then she walked off with Marco and Lyserg at her tail.

Tamao just stood there watching them leave. She looked towards the X-Laws, then towards the place Ari had run off to, finally she went after the X-Laws, clutching her sketch book tighter to her chest.

--

_**PUNCH!**_

_**CRASH!**_

_**BAM!**_

Hao was outraged, he threw/broke/smashed and burned everything that got in his way.

"I'll kill them! I'll kill them! I'll kill them!" he shouted out in frustration.

He grabbed a pot next to him and _**whammed**_ it against the wall; it shattered into tiny fragments of glass.

The shamans were all together now pouring tea, and drinking it. No one said a word; they were all too busy pondering over what to do next.

After pouring the warm tea into their cups, they all set down in the room of the kidnap. They all sat quietly, some annoyed, but quiet as Hao kept destroying things in his way, which seemed to be just about everything.

Manta sat next to "Heika"; he was looking at Hao in fear, wondering if one of the flying objects would come his way.

_**CRASH!**_

Manta jumped as sweat dripped down his back; he looked at "Heika".

"Doesn't it bother you that his is practically breaking your house?" he asked, shaking in fear.

_**CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!**_

The midnight girl shrugged. "Those are only material things of no value he's breaking."

Hao kicked a table that crashed onto the wall.

"Heika" frowned "Though that table was a priceless artifact." She added under her breath.

Luchist watched his Hao-sama, carefully thinking of a way to cool his nerves.

"Hao-sama-"

Horo interrupted "CAN'T YOU KEEP YOUR COOL FOR ONE DAMN SECOND!" he shouted in anger.

Hao stopped and glared at him.

"The idiot over here is right…for once. Doing this won't help get Annaka back…not that many of us miss her." The Tao added.

Hao slumped down on a couch. "Then what do you suppose we do, Tao?"

Manta fell to the ground and instantly stood up, pointing at Hao. "HOW CAN YOU CHANGE MOODS SO SUDDENLY!" he shouted, earning shocked glances from everyone in the room.

Hao shrugged "Years of practice." He said calmly, but "Heika" could see his fist clench every now and then.

Avaf suddenly appeared next to Chocolove, his arms folded out in front of his stone body.

"The first thing we should do," he began, taking the situation under his command "is to find out who took Annaka, then track them down."

Everyone nodded in agreement, except for the cloaked midnight girl who shook her head.

"Do you have a problem with us going after my wife?" Hao hissed, annoyed by the girl's presence.

She shook her head once again. "No. I just don't feel the need to go and do all that when it's obvious who took her." She stated in a relaxed mood.

It took everyone awhile to take that in.

"What! You know who took Miss. Annaka!" Ryu shouted in shock.

He had been healed by Faust soon not to long ago, so he knew only parts of what was going on at the time.

The girl gave a smug nod.

Silence.

"Care to tell us who it is?" Hao challenged menacingly, his fist balled up tighter than before.

"The Patch." She said calmly.

Someone who had been drinking their tea choked.

Nagehiko's brain numbly registered the reactions of the guest in the room.

Chocolove's cup slipped out of his hand and spilled tea all over his clothes.

Ryu froze and stared at the lovely cloaked girl, his eyes unreadable.

Faust and Eliza were calm and relaxed no expressions on their faces.

Luchist and Opacho both frowned.

Ren's hand, with his tea cup in it, was frozen in midair. He had been about to drink his tea...but Manta's words had frozen his action.

It was a good thing that he hadn't started drinking yet...he might have choked.

Hao's hands were far, too far away from his tea cup, so he didn't have the chance of choking.

Jeanne, Marco, and Lyserg, on the other hand, rapidly put down their tea cups and turned away from the shamans while covering their mouths.

Their tea cups were almost empty, a good indicator that all three of them had been drinking her tea when the words hit them.

But, unlike X-Laws who were quite silent with their choking due to their polite table manner...Horo Horo was utterly coughing, showing no manners what so ever.

"You're kidding right?" Horo said in denial "The Patch were the ones who sent us here, why wouldn't they just take her from the inn if they wanted to kidnap her?"

"Pride," mumbled Emmetto, his voice almost a whisper.

"Self-doubt," Wilhelmina added,

"The course of events," offered Ari with a smile.

Manta turned to look at the three shamans, he never heard them come in. then he saw that they weren't wearing their dark brown cloaks.

Wilhelmina was wearing a red knee-length yukata, which was one shade darker than her hair. It had a crossing collar that tied to the right, long sleeves with wide cuffs, and black sash that held two huge Chinese war fans on her back.

Arisu wore a loose tan dress which, to Manta, seemed like a smaller version of Sati's dress. It had a wine red fringed sash tied around her waistline, and a loose goldish-brown scarf tied at her hips with a bear claw at each end.

Emmetto wore some strange clothing. Thought Manta had seen it in books from the Edo period of Japan. Emmetto was dressed in similar clothing from the Edo period, similar to an onmyōji. The top part of the outfit was red; the pants were a heavy blue.

Hao seemed to be eyeing Emmetto's as well; he eyed him for a bit then smiled, those clothing brought back memories.

The midnight girl turned her head to look at her allies. A small smile growing on her face "Took you three a while to come." She joked.

The others turned to where the girl was speaking, their expressions all changed when they saw the three shamans' outfits.

Ren frowned then turned to the midnight girl, a firm expression across his face. "I suppose you expect us to fight the Patch." He glared.

Wilhelmina rolled her eyes. "I suppose you all have better ideas?"

Everyone was silent, unsure of what to say. Did they have other options? Would it be harder or easier to get through the Patch this time?

Silence.

A long and thoughtful silence…

The wine haired Chinese shaman almost thought that she wasn't going to get an answer.

It was Ren who finally answered her question after a bit of self evaluation. He hesitantly began addressing his words to her. "I guess…we have no other option." He confirmed

Marco sighed "To have to go through the Patch twice is not something I am very fond of." He said uncomfortably. "But fighting with a possible enemy" –he glared at "Heika" and the others- "is something I detest."

"Heika" shrugged and stood; she spoke innocently "If you do not want us to do the trade then…"

"-what trade?" Ryu asked raising both brows as he eyed the girl's body.

The girl smiled and folded her hands behind her back, "My life…instead of Annaka's."

Nagehiko shot up out of his seat and sprang towards the girl, a big white blob of fur blocked his way.

It was a huge white polar bear clothed in hard golden armor.

"Let me through!" Nagehiko hissed.

The girl was irritated "NAGEHIKO!" she shouted in rage "ENOUGH!"

Nagehiko growled but calmed his position.

Hao ignored the whole dramatic scene; he looked at the cloaked midnight girl. "Why are you willing to help?" he asked in his usual calm voice.

Suddenly, something horribly ugly came across "Heika's" bottom face features; like she suddenly became a whole other person, or she was forced to recall something so disgusting and revolting that she could not control her feelings for it internally. But then it was gone. Like the brief kiss of the wind.

"Because it's my life the Patch are after, not your wife's…" she said sullenly "but when they discover they have the wrong person it'll make no difference to Golva…she'll kill her either way…"

Hao felt a slow growl forming in his throat.

"And I _am_ aware how you'll be afterwards." She finished, like if that last sentence had some hidden meaning to it.

Opacho was seating right in front of Hao's legs, sipping her tea rather quickly; she felt a strange aura and looked up.

Emmetto, Wilhelmina, and Arisu were all looking at the ground. Their fists were clenched and their hair all showed their eyes, not allowing any expressions to be seen.

For a brief moment Opacho got inside their heads.

She saw _a body lying on the grass, it was a woman with long blonde hair, and she appeared to be soulless._

_Then the image shifted to another woman, this one had long pink hair. She was hanging, trapped in an Onmyodu star sign by her wrist and ankles. A man in a Patch outfit stood in front of her glaring at her with hard burning eyes of fire._

_The man said something and his expression changed into one of a deadly killer, the girl shrieked as her wrist and ankles began to burn inside the star…_

Opacho shook her head, the image was scary almost terrifying. Before she could look into their heads for more, she realized she couldn't.

Those three had blocked their minds yet again.

Opacho frowned and looked at her Hao-sama; he stood up and looked at the others.

"Well the sooner we're out of here the sooner we can face the Patch." He said, now taking order.

Everyone else stood as well and left to their rooms to fetch their stuff.

When it was only Hao, Tamao, Manta, and Hana, Hao turned to Manta.

"Manta" he said, he looked at Manta's direction, he looked like a villain in vaudeville.

Manta got nervous at the way Hao stared at him like that. '_He wants something,' _Manta thought.

Hao smiled, and then opened his mouth.

"We're going to need a plane…"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Lip, Rap, THIS IS NOT THE ONE I SENT YOU OUT TO GET!" Goldva shouted in rage at the two small girls.

Lip and Rap looked at each other, then at their grandmother "But Grandma, it was so hard to see in that dust! How were we to know?!" Lip whined in defense.

"Right, right!" Rap agreed.

Goldva stared at the two with a crossed looked. Then the look went over to Nichrome.

"Weren't you suppose to be there to make sure they trapped her!?" she questioned him loudly.

Nichrome was against the wall with his arms crossed, he turned his head towards the loud Patch leader.

"I was distracting Hao-sama." He dully said in his defense "Besides you should know better than to send two five year olds that are still in diapers."

"We can't help it!" the twins shouted, both red in embarrassment.

Nichrome looked at Annaka's unconscious body that lay on the hard rock floor. Her skin was pale and her breathing was a bit unsteady, she was sweating as if she had just lifted a hundred pounds and held it there for a whole day.

'_Hao-sama will be very displeased by this'_ he told himself in his head.

Goldva was still shouting at Nichrome. "YOU DIDN'T BOTHER TO CHECK IF THE GIRLS HAD GOTTEN THE RIGHT ONE!?"

Nichrome shrugged "You were so sure they would do a good job I didn't bother. If you would have put me in charge I would have brought Nianna with no problems like these."

Goldva took this in for a moment…

"Damn that Nianna, karma is taking a liking to her…" Goldva muttered to herself "I create her to replace Anna while we wait to make sure she's alive and then I sent someone to kill her and she escapes…how the hell did she escape in the first place?!"

Nichrome kept quiet, his mind was off somewhere else. He was picturing the girl in his head, wondering what she looked like now. He pictured Anna, then lengthened her hair in his head, then he changed the hair color to a dark midnight black, and almost golden-brown eyes…

'_Hmm'_ he thought.

"What the devil am I supposed to do with her!" Golva questioned, pointing a finger towards the blonde "I can't possibly do anything…with…her……or can I?"

Nichrome shot his head up and stared at the Patch leader with huge eyes, Lip and Rap looked at their grandmother in awe.

Goldva grinned evilly and turned toward her granddaughters "Lip, Rap, place her inside there." –She pointed to a large container filled of water- "we will go on as planned."

Nichrome couldn't stop her now, he knew why Golva was doing this, he knew her reasons yet…

'_Just because your time is almost up does not mean you have to take anyone else's.'_

Goldva was getting to old to live and she thought she could rest in peace due to the fact everything was under control. But it wasn't once she saw the tapes and they showed _her_ still being alive, Goldva wasn't going to rest until _she_ was dead.

Nichrome looked at Annaka; she had not regain conscious, even though she was now floating in water. Not just any water…holy water from the mouth of the Spirit of Water itself.

Her long blonde locks waved and moved inside the water as if they had mind of their own, slowly moving like if a tiny gust of wind blew though them.

Her amazingly angelic face was pale, no improvement there. All she did was…staying there, floating, not noticing the danger she was in.

Nichrome shook his head and walked off to his plant.

_That_ Queen was not going to be happy once she would awaken…

---

**ANNAKA'S P.O.V**

Boy was my head killing me…but of course that would be expected if you fell on it.

Though why do I not feel the smooth and cool floor beneath my body anymore? I was sure I was lying over it just moments ago.

I felt…wet.

My eyes began to open themselves curious as to where I was. Everything I saw was a blur, a bubbly blue blur.

I took a step back, or at least I tried. There was no floor under my feet, and all I felt was some kind of hard wall behind me.

Where in Kami-sama's name was I?

I moved my arm and pressed it against something blocking my way…glass?

I pushed again, definitely glass I said to myself, but when I said it no sound came out just…bubbles.

I felt my bright, blood red, eyes grow. Bubbles, the wet feeling, glass.

I was in a container of water.

One name came to me as I realized where I was, it was a name similar to a name I hated in my past life…

Goldva.

"Ah I see you are awake ex-Queen." I heard a voice say.

I hated that voice.

I glared at that preposterous old woman, I didn't care if she was a high respected elder of my people, she was utterly mad.

I saw her smirk; all it did was send anger raging through me.

"Now, there's no need for you to look at me with such rage. I'm sure you expected this." She said in an almost menacing tone.

I expected this? Out of my dead body I did! I didn't expect you to be happy with my return after what I did, but taking my life I never expected you to do you old grouch!

All that that old grouch did was smile. Like that woman from 500 years ago who had that same smile. It's as if she has risen from the dead to come and take me back to the spirit world…to take away my life.

"I suppose that, by your angered face, you do understand that this is all that girl's fault." She said to me.

That girl? What girl?

I did the only thing I could to understand, I searched her head.

All I came up with was a name and an image.

Nianna…

My eyes could not help but to once again stretch themselves. I felt my body begin to shake.

She didn't. Out of all the low level things she could do she…she…

…made a copy of Anna-san.

I saw it all, all the memories, all the purposes, all of it was flashing through my head like one's life is suppose to flash before their eyes.

How could you! I wanted to shout, but what good would that do? No sound would come out…just damn bubbles.

I began to shake in disgust.

What Goldva had done was an intolerable act, more unforgivable than what I'd done in my past life.

To _make_ one of us, a Shaman Queen, a being that connected the three worlds and just as easily separated them…

I felt anger spew inside of me, slowly rising like a million volcanoes ready to erupt, ready to destroy the land beneath it.

And right now, Goldva was _way_ beneath me.

"You can obviously see the great trouble I have made" she began again, drawing her own conclusions from my expressions "If we have 3 of you alive it could alter the every existence of the world."

I knew that, I knew it since the day I was able to think. And it came to my head one day.

The first Shaman Queen found a poem in the Kings old scripture book, it had his rigid writing, and it said a secret…a great secret of the Shaman Queens, of our…screams.

_**I see angels, there were three**_

_**And they all bowed before me.**_

_**I see angels, all with grand keys**_

_**The keys are stored within them, within their musical throats.**_

_**The keys that open those worlds, which worlds? Ha, the only three.**_

_**Upon their heads are the glistening crowns of Queens.**_

_**Shaman Queens**_

_**With a shriek the gates break open, with a song they clear.**_

_**To those angels I tell, do not shriek and do not yell.**_

_**Or the grand gates will open…the gates of Heaven, Earth and Hell.**_

Ever since the first Queen read that we were forced to be kept from people until the birth of the Shaman King, to keep ourselves from ever accidentally opening the gates.

But it never occurred to any of the Patch that there would ever be three Queens, I guess they should have looked that one over.

Only a second had past as I remembered all of this and that old woman just stood there, looking at me with a grim expression through her old wrinkled face.

"So as you can see, Annaka" the prune went on "one of you _must_ die in order for the Great Spirit to be at ease."

What ever happened to 'it's all the will of the Great Spirit?'

I did not wish to die again…not without Hao, not this time.

This time I had something to live for, Hao was alive, so I could not just…leave him like that…it would break the both of us to shreds.

If I was allowed to, I would cry to get rid of the hurt, the very memory of when I lost Hao 500 years ago.

But I couldn't, I wasn't allowed, tears…were a sign of weakness.

But of course, then what do you consider what I am now?

I cannot get out of this container, the holy water prevents me from leaving, it prevents me from making and oversoul or crashing my way out.

And also it holds me still for the torture that lies ahead…

I saw the corner of Goldva's lips twitch, and I saw those two small twins come into the room.

Both of the small girls looked at the ground. '_Gomenasai.' _They apologized through their tiny heads.

They looked at the ground, not bothering to look me in the eyes; I knew they were ashamed of their mistake.

Poor girls, to have to live up for so much in this world…it's truly sad, their job is a big one for such children.

But right now I feel sorry for myself.

At times I feel like my life is complicated, like God has allowed more grief and suffering to come my way than He should have.

But in my heart, I know I should be thankful that I have access to opportunities that others will never even dream of having, that I should be glad I even have loved ones, even if they are taken away from me. Or I am taken away from them.

I have had painful things happen to me, and I know what sorrow feels like, but there are always those who have been hurt deeper than me. To them I can only offer my prayers, and my sympathy.

Prayers and sympathy for those who _can_ live on because of my death, I have lived my life before, but _she_ hadn't.

That Nianna.

My death allows her to live on with her life so therefore I'm not mad. I, at least know that no one else has to take my place in death, one's life will be saved in exchange for mine.

I can smile because of that.

I saw five enormous spirits appeared around me, I knew their faces well; they were once my friends, my companions who generated me with their power of the elements.

So now they were going to end me.

I smiled to myself. This place, this continent, these people, these spirits…ha, it was like if I was opening a book of memories.

A book of memories that gave me a paper cut each time I turned the page.

And yet I kept coming back to a particular page, on that brought me the most pain.

Hao…

Each time I thought about him I got hit bad, a sharp bitter pain that stung worse than anything I've ever felt.

"Lip, start with the Spirit of Earth." Goldva ordered her voice now professionally serious.

Lip winced at the sound of her name; I heard her tiny thoughts '_Why do I have to begin?'_ She wined in her head.

The young girl's thoughts slowly came into my head. '_Gomenasai, gomenasai, gomenasai…'_

I felt my eyes soften at the girl, she didn't want to begin the process of my death, who would?

She walked towards me, her footsteps barley noticeable due to her light weight, then she stopped.

In her hands she held a pot with a cactus planted inside, her medium.

"Spirit of Earth." She softly called.

She lifted the cactus up above her head; it began to glow with a glimmering Pink shine.

I felt the heavy footsteps behind me as the wide spirit made its way over to where I was.

_**THUMP**_

_**THUMP**_

_**THUMP**_

_**THUMP**_

The thumping came to a stop behind me, and the Spirit of Earth wrapped its mammoth hands around the container I was in.

My eyes closed, everything I saw was now shadowed in darkness.

I did not want to see my death, but I knew I could not prevent feeling it.

I felt the container shake, trembling roughly under the spirit's hand, then I felt the first strike…

Metal came at me, cutting through the top layer of my human-like skin, it sent a sharp sting as the water touched the wound, as if someone had decided to spill lemon juice on a new cut.

I wanted to bad to scream but what would be the point? Since when had anyone's yells ever taken away a pain?

I wanted everything out of my head, I only wanted to go to that page in my book of memories, the one that had the one I loved.

Hao…

I felt a new pain, a kick in the stomach. At first I thought that rocks had begun to come at me, but then I realized this pain was from the inside.

My body felt as if it was being dumped into a blood of acid. I did not wish to see the pool of crimson I was in at the moment; I just kept my head clear from the pain.

I wasn't able to keep my thoughts clear from one thing, another's thoughts.

Rap's thoughts poured into my head, and I dared to open my eyes to look at her as her thoughts slowly took over my head.

'_I can see it'_ she began in her own thought _'the pain that lies in her eyes, the anger that burns from her gaze, the madness that is setting her eyes ablaze, the fear that closes her eyes, the hope that is finally dead, she…cannot trust. Her heart has been…bled,'_-she gave a small shiver- _'I can see death's hand that has glazed her eyes, is she…dying inside?'_

That tiny girl saw all that in my eyes, for once someone had been able to see through the situation and clearly look into my eyes.

_**CRACK**_

Oh! I gasped.

Inside me, something had yanked a part of me and was kicking at me.

Ripping. Breaking. Agony.

I couldn't breathe-a shock of electricity ran through me, destroying my ability to breathe properly under water.

I felt rocks and metal thrusting at me each one hurting me terribly with their impact.

Electricity ran through me again, and now I could feel all five spirits over me, giving me what they had with great force.

Red spots covered the blue water and I felt a new pain stab me icily into my stomach.

That pain, it felt…different then the others. It felt…wrong.

What was it?

I felt pieces of me shattering, snapping, slicing apart…

And then the pain inside of me was different.

I concentrated I wanted to find the source of the pain that pummeled me from within.

Then I saw something within my head.

Hao's face, my face, and both of our faces; I felt the inside of my stomach jump once more.

Then something sharper than knives ripped through me- my pain was making sense. In spite of the other tortures I was able to think straight for a minute, long enough for me to find out what was wrong.

_Impossible_, I whispered in thought.

I shut my eyes, and my tears mixed in with the red holy water, now was the time I would let myself cry.

…_for the love of all that is holy…no…  
__________________________________________________________________

……………………………**UM, WELL WHAT CAN I SAY REALLY?....... THIS CHAPTER WAS FULL OF A LOT OF TEARS, I'M HAVING TO WIPE MY COMPUTER OFF WITH A TISSUE FROM JUST RE-READING MY OWN STORY.**

"**FUFUFU" *BLOWS NOSE INTO A TISSUE***

**WELL *SNIFF* PLEASE REVIEW PEOPLE.**

**SERIOUSLY I WORK REALLY HARD TO WRITE THESE CHAPTERS AND I EXPECT FOR MY READERS TO TELL ME HOW MUCH THEY LIKED/DISLIKED IT.**

**I MEAN COME ON I WROTE 34 PAGES FOR YOU GUYS!!!**

**SO R&R PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**NOW FOR TIME TO THANK MY REVIEWERS!**

**MAYA AQUARIA:**_ HAHA MATAMUNE FAN HUH? THAT'S A FIRST! HAHA_

**PENGUIN: **_I'D SUGGEST YOU READ THE FIRST STORY IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND, BUT EITHER WAY THX FOR REVIEWING!_

**IMTHEMAN: **_NO WORRIES I'LL KEEP UPDATING, I DON'T LIKE TO UNCOMPLETE A STORY. ^-^  
_


	8. No Fucking Heart

***sighs* DONE! Hallelujia! U kno itz hard cumin ^ w/ new ideas, luckily I planned this story from start to finish! *smiles proudly***

**But authors come ^ w/ new ideas all the time so tatz my problem haha!**

**But every chapter deserves a review. That's my opinion!**

**THANKS TO:**

**Maya Aquaria:** as always you're reviewing thank you for that! ^-^ glad you like it.

**Ja 01 'Loving you Always:**thanks glad you're enjoying it.

**REMEMBER R&R PPL!**

**now those of you who are very observant and get curious at times I bet you guys wonder why Arisu couldn't see, and how Emmetto was blocking her vision, and why Wilhelmina was grinning evilly after Hao saw that picture in Emmetto's head. well those of you who like spoilers I'm going to give you a clue!**

**Each one of Soragumi (Wilhelmina, Emmetto, and Ari) like Hao have a special shamanic power...but i'm not going to say. YOU GUYS have to figure that out. THIS chapter gives clues to all three powers, also CH. 5 gives a clue to Wilhelmina's power, and CH.6 gives a clue to Emmetto's**

**~CrysitaNaima**

* * *

**_History's Flames:_**

* * *

_**A Thousand Paper Cranes Arc;**_

_**Chapter Eight**_

Yoh slowly walked the road that seems as if they were never ending. Though he greatly wished they would end so that he may get to his destination sooner.

How was he supposed to face Anna after what she had done? He knew that she couldn't control it; after all it was her first Oni. But yet he never imagined that Anna had ever killed anyone, not to mention a small nine year old.

*Sigh* "What am I supposed to do?" he asked himself.

He raised his head and noticed he was already at the small convenience store Misaka-san worked at.

He saw Misaka-san standing outside; she seemed to be working on some sort of machine, wrestling with it greatly.

Yoh walked over to her and saw locks of blond hair waving in the air beside Misaka-san, he froze, it was Anna-chan.

She was bent down beside Misaka twisting a knob inside the machine with a wrench in her hand, having less trouble than the older girl beside her.

Yoh saw her freeze in her place as she seemed to feel his gaze on her, she looked up, her smooth brown eyes locked with his for a moment, then she turned back to what she had been doing before.

'_He isn't here to see me. He isn't here to see me.'_ She repeated in her head almost as if she were crying inside her head.

Yoh frowned. His little wife didn't think that he was here to see her. She thought he was probably here to check on Misaka or something.

Yoh straightened up and walked over to them, his usual grin on his face.

"Ohayo!" he cheerfully said as he came over to them.

He saw Misaka wince for a slight second at his voice, then a smile slowly crept up on her face, she turned her head to look at him, then grinned.

"Ohayo, Asakura-san." She said taking a small bow at the brunette in front of her.

Little Anna rolled her eyes as the girl's thoughts poured into her head, she continued to work on the machine in front of her until she felt someone breath on her shoulder.

She turned around and saw Yoh looking at her with an absolutely cute grin, his face only inches above her shoulder.

"Ohayo Anna-chan." He greeted her, his chocolate eyes warm and welcoming.

The small girl just stared. Why was he being so nice to her? Did he not know of what happened last night? No. He knew. She knew he did…then why?

She slowly looked away, back to working on the machine, twisting the wrench back and forth to tighten the screw.

Yoh felt his face fall into a sadden look, he reached out and touched Anna's tiny hand that held the wrench, she flinched, and he took the wrench out of her hands.

"Can I help?" he asked, his face more cheerful.

Anna tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear and nodded, Yoh smiled and tightened the screw in one turn.

"Wow, you seem to be very hardy, Asakura-san!" Misaka praised him from behind, clapping her hands as if a baby had walked for the first time.

"She's not saying that just because of the screw." Anna whispered soft enough so that Misaka was not able to hear.

Yoh sweat dropped then he was startled by the sound of the bells jingling at the door of the store.

"I got the stuff…ah? Cadm's relative? Why are you here?" said a deep voice.

Yoh and Anna looked up and saw Edward standing at the door with some tools in his hand, his school jacket casually dangling on his shoulder.

"Edward! Don't be so rude!" Misaka ran up to him and pleaded, grabbing his arm tightly.

Edward just grimly looked at the girl and gently pushed her off his arm. "Who's the one that's being rude?" he said to her.

Yoh stood up and gave a small bow. "Ohayo, Edward-san." He smiled.

Edward blankly looked at him and coldly said. "Don't act so familiar with me, Cadm's relative. We're not going to be all chummy and friendly to each other."

Misaka and Anna just looked at him in disbelief.

"Edward…"

Yoh face didn't fall, he kept his usual smile on his face, making Edward irritated.

"Ah, I wasn't planning on it." Yoh said "I was just being nice, if you don't want to get involved with me then there is no worry."

Anna looked at him in disbelief at his words. "Yoh-kun."

Edward chuckled. "This is your friend, Anna? He is very dimwitted."

The small blonde frowned, her eyes being shadowed by her long sandy hair; she stood up beside of Yoh and wrapped her tiny arms around him in a small embrace. Yoh looked down at her in shock, his mouth slightly opened, his eyes a bit wide.

"Anna-chan…" he murmured under his breath.

Anna didn't look at him her dark drown eyes were on Edward, who seemed equally surprised as Yoh.

"Yoh-kun is my friend. It doesn't concern you. So back off!" she yelled in a viciously cold tone.

Everyone rooted themselves in place, stunned by the small girl's words.

"Ano…" Misaka interrupted, waving her hand frantically in front of her in fear. "Why don't we test out the machine now that Kyoyama-san helped me fix it?" she suggested.

Edward looked over at the machine; he walked over to and analyzed it from top to bottom. "You say Anna helped you fix it?" he asked.

Misaka nodded. Edward chuckled. "Well then" –he popped his knuckles- "let's see how sturdy it is."

"What?" Yoh yelled in confusion. But too late, Edward threw his fist at the machine with all the strength he had.

Yoh just stared wide eyed, he felt Anna's tiny body shake and he looked down, she was giggling. "Yoh-kun, don't tell me you've never seen a strength testing machine?" she asked now hiding her face in his shirt to keep in the laughter.

"Strength testing machine?" Yoh repeated in question.

Misaka nodded. "The rules are simple. With one swing of your fist you see how strong of a punch you have. Then the meter will give you a number, see?" she pointed to the red bar that kept rising and rising, then in the screen appeared the number with stood for Edward's strength.

"350." The blonde boy proudly announced to them, a smirk across his face. "Try beating that." He said to Yoh who just blinked at the number and looked down at the small Anna.

She smiled at him and unwrapped her arms from his waist; Yoh walked over to machine and looked it over.

Edward had his arms crossed in front of him, tapping his foot impatiently. "What the hell are you waiting for?" he asked, his face blank but his tone irritated.

Yoh scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Where am I supposed to punch it?" he asked sheepishly.

The others anime dropped to the ground.

"Idiot." Edward muttered under his breath as he and the others stood up, he walked over and pointed to a soft silk circle on the machine. "Here."

Yoh nodded and Edward backed away and watched. "One more thing." He said before Yoh punched the circular object. "If your number is higher than mine then you may play with Anna everyday, for all anyone cares. But if my number is higher then you don't get to see her anymore, and must leave the town." He challenged Yoh.

Yoh nodded and brought back his arm forming his hand into a fist. _'I have to get a number higher than his if I want to accomplish my desires of finally understanding my Anna's heart.'_ -He threw his fist at the object- _'everything will work out in the end.'_

_**BAMM!**_

_**DING, DING, DING, DING…DING…DING.**_

"625." Misaka awed. "That's…more than Edward." She looked from the blond to the brunette and back again. _'And yet Asakura-san is 3 years younger than Edward, who is the most athletic at school! Is that possible?'_

Edward was thinking the same thing. _'This kid is he human?'_ –He looked at Anna- _'or is there something else in his determination?'_

Yoh sighed _'I guess it's thanks to Anna's training. I have to remember to thank her when I get back.'_ He smiled to himself then turned to Edward. "A deal's a deal." He laughed.

Edward narrowed his eyes "I guess so." He hissed. He didn't seem so happy about it, but a deal is a deal.

Yoh grinned "Well then let's go play Anna-…Anna-chan?"

He looked around him to find the mini Anna, or chibi Anna as Ohachiyo called her, he saw her standing in front of the machine. The small girl had her wide brown eyes on the red circle while she popping her knuckles, she furrowed her eyebrows together in complete concentration, and in one blink of an eye she threw her fist at the circle with a _**BAM**_, moving the machine back about an inch.

_**BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...BEEP…BEEP**_

_**DING!**_

_**NEW RECORD, NEW RECORD.**_

Yoh's mouth dropped impossibly low, a cold chill going down his spine. "…8…hundred…seventy…two." He choked.

Misaka fainted, and Edward just stared in amazement "872…how is that possible?"

Anna looked at the number and smirked "I'm not a prize." She dully said to them walking over and grabbing Yoh's hand. "Let's go Yoh-kun."

"WE HAVE A WINNER OF 872 STRENGTH POINTS!" someone announced over the store intercom, startling Yoh, Anna, Misaka, and Edward.

Then a man in a black suit and microphone busted out through the doors of the store, he grabbed Misaka and stood her back up on her two feet and placed an arm on her shoulder.

"Misaka! Who knew we would be having a new record so soon!" he happily announced, his arm tightening around her shoulder.

Misaka began turning the color of her hair. "Ah! *cough*, Mr. Narutaki! *cough* *cough*"

The man finally let her go, and she fell to the ground on her knees, taking long deep breaths. Then he moved to Edward's side wrapping his arm around his shoulder. "Edward! I'd never thought you would have the strength of 872! You are impressive!" he knuckled the boy's blond head.

Edward shoved him off with on hand and crossed him off. "It wasn't me you nitwit!"

Mr. Narutaki blinked and looked around, his eyes fell on Yoh, he eyed him from top to bottom; Yoh blinked, waiting for the man's reaction/response.

Mr. Narutaki brushed his fingers through his shiny grey hair, and walked up to Yoh and shook his head. "Congrats son! You've beaten our school's most athletic guy! And 872, what a number!"

Yoh sweat dropped as the man kept shaking his hand; he raised his free hand and scratched the back of his head. "Ano…it wasn't me, sir." He told him, trying hard not to laugh.

The silver head man blinked, looking at the brunette in a confused face, his green eyes still blinking nonstop. Misaka got up off the ground and looked at her boss with her hand on her chest to monitor her breathing.

"Mr. Narutaki-sensei," she began, wondering how on Earth she was going to explain this to her boss. Mr. Narutaki turned to look at her and she pointed to the small girl beside of Yoh. The man turned his gaze to the small blonde.

'_Small, peach-colored, chocolate eyes, long golden mid-thigh length hair…nothing like a girl who would score 872 strength points.'_ he analyzed. _'The girl doesn't look like she gone through-'_

"Nani?" The girl angrily asked before the man could "analyze" anymore of her.

'_Hmmp, demanding too.'_He complained in his head. Yoh laughed and Anna-chan narrowed her eyes.

The small blonde pushed the man out of her way and walked over to the machine, all eyes on her tiny body. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and pulled her arm back, looking in the others' direction before throwing her second punch at the machine.

Mr. Narutaki stood impatiently waiting for the machine to show a number, Edward just dully stood in his spot, while Misaka and Yoh were on the edge of their toes.

_**DING!**_

NEW RECORD, NEW RECORD

"879? That's amazing!" Mr. Narutaki announced, his mouth practically touching the floor in awe. Yoh stood beside him, he hung his head. "I have been hit by her punch before…" he muttered.

The man turned his head towards Yoh, his mouth still touching the floor, his eyes wide in exclamation. "You have!" *faints~*

Anna looked proudly at her 2nd new record and ran over to Yoh, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him away. "Let's go, Yoh-kun!" she happily said, dragging him by the arm. "Ah! Hai!" Yoh responded, following behind and trying his best to keep up with her fast paces.

"Kyoyama-san! Don't forget about your class placement exam in the afternoon!" Misaka called out after them.

"Hai~!" The small blonde called back before she and Yoh were out of sight

* * *

_**History's Flames;**_

_**Chapter Eight**_

"Hao-sama, could you try slowing down a bit?" Luchist asked, worryingly, clutching tightly to the seat he sat in with Opacho on his lap.

They were inside Luchist's oversouled car, speeding to the limit to get to the Patch village. Hao was driving, Luchist was in the passenger seat with Opacho on his lap, and team The Ren and Faust were in the back. In Marco's car it was Marco (driving), Lyserg (passenger), Jeanne, Tamao, and Manta. Then riding on ridiculously large spirits were Emmetto, "Heika", Nagehiko, Ari, Wilhelmina, and Hana. Hana was sleeping in "Heika's" arms, he did not move or flinch as he rode on Jeikobu who was prancing fast to catch up with the cars.

"There's no way in hell I'm going to slow down, Luchist." Hao hissed at his sweating follower.

"But Hao-sama you are driving at 150 miles an hour!"

Hao ignored him; he kept his eyes on the road, hearing the accelerate to the point that they could only see blurs whenever they would pass a tree or another object.

"You expected him to be able to drive? The guy has never driven a car in his 1000 years of life." Chocolove reasoned, he and Horohoro both gripping on to _their_ seats in fear, Ren and Faust just sat normally in theirs.

"Opacho feels sick Hao-sama." Opacho piped up looking a little green.

Hao took his eyes off the road to look at her, she looked horrible but Hao couldn't concentrate on that at the moment.

"Hao-sama eyes on the road please!"

Hao rolled his eyes, a crossed look was now on his face as he turned his eyes back to the road before him.

…

Inside the other car Marco was getting frustrated. "He shouldn't be allowed to drive in such manner!" he protested angrily—his glasses suddenly shattered and Lyserg handed him a new pair.

Jeanne smiled "He's only worried about Miss Annaka, Marco, the Patch are very cold-blooded when it comes to things such as these."

Marco's eyebrows furrowed; he looked at the rearview mirror. "Are you alright Oyamada-san?" he asked raising a brow at the short boy. Manta was grabbing on to his seat tightly and he was sweating like crazy, he looked up at Marco and gave a nervous smile.

"Hehe, its nothing…it's just, last time I was in this car we almost got murdered and well now we're going over 100 miles an hour so…"

Lyserg nodded in understanding, "I know what you mean Manta-kun, but there is no reason to worry, you can feel perfectly safe here."

Marco's face turned grim "If not…you can always ride with _those_ outside." He said in a menacing tone. He meant Ryu who was on the roof of Marco's car, grabbing on tightly to its hood so he wouldn't slip or fall back because of the amazing speed they were going.

Manta gulped.

"Marco, don't scare them like that, remember they're friends. It's thanks to Manta-kun's dad that we were able to get a jet to the Island." Lyserg kindly told him, smiling at Manta's reaction. Marco laughed and Manta flinched at the sound of his low, bass, laughter. Tamao kept looking out the window, her attention constantly shifted itself, her eyes moving around to look at the ones on the gigantic animal oversouls.

She looked over Ari, "Heika", Nagehiko, Wilhelmina, and finally her eyes landed on Emmetto.

His eyes were also on her, watching her, looking over her tiny pale face. Tamao blushed and looked away; she decided to stare down at her hands. Emmetto grimed at the pink across the girl's face and turned his head, with an almost annoyed expression on his face.

Wilhelmina looked down at him from her giant oversoul in the sky, raising a brow at his unusual expression. "You're mad." She said in a dull tone, hovering down towards Jeikobu.

Emmetto didn't look at her he looked at the path ahead "Why wouldn't I be?" he said angrily, gritting his perfect white teeth "She's too…you know."

-"Heika" and Nagehiko weren't listening to the others; "Heika" just looked at the tiny little Hana in her arms, her face and eyes both soft as she held him gently.-

Wilhelmina nodded as she finished his sentence in her head "Eventually we'll change her back Emmetto, you know that. Don't ponder over pointless things."

Emmetto looked towards Marco's car and the tightened his hands "But when we do…we'll cease to exist anymore."

Wilhelmina closed her eyes "I know." She said. End of conversation.

…

"Ryu are you sure you're fine up there?" Manta shouted out the window.

Ryu held up a thumbs-up sign with one hand "As long as Miss Tamao and the pretty maiden are comfortable, I am willing to ride anywhere!" he shouted back in a proud tone.

Manta sweat dropped and looked at Marco, who was now holding the steering wheel with a tight grip, Manta flinched and sank into his seat, rolling up the window in the process.

"Lyserg," Marco said trying hard to calm his temper "do not allow that man around the Maiden, you understand." he finished referring to Ryu.

Lyserg sighed but agreed.

…

"Hao-sama you're going to go straight into the ocean!"

"I know." Hao replied once again to Luchist's worriedly screams. A smirk immediately appeared on Hao's face along with a shimmer in his eyes, and in an instant, they knew.

The car splashed into the ocean, a gush of water and bubbles suddenly appearing outside the windows, the vehicle disappearing in a sea of blue.

…

Marco and Lyserg both felt their eyes grow as they saw Luchist's car run straight into the waters. Lyserg turned to look at Marco as he pushed his glasses up.

"I will not allow anyone such as him to beat me!" –Marco huffed as his glasses glistened in the sunlight that hit them-

He scrunched downward in a ready position and hit the gas pedal, readying himself, then he shifted the gear to drive, Manta and Tamao screamed, and immediately they too, ran and fell into the waters with a grand _**splash**_.

The others just stood there on the beach.

"Heika" chuckled softly to herself, "He's very determined isn't he?" she laughed.

The others didn't respond, only Nagehiko who growled under his cloak, "He is not amusing to me." He said in an irritated tone.

Wilhelmina rolled her eyes. Ever since they met "Heika" Nagehiko never bothered to show his face, he always kept it hidden under his cloak. They didn't mind it though, they knew what he looked like far before "Heika" had met him.

Hana yawned, stretching himself in "Heika's arms. The brown haired girl held him closer to her, earning an irritated glare from her cloaked partner. "Honestly, why do you carry _that thing_ as if you were attached to him?" he growled, uncomfortable at saying the word baby.

"Maybe I am attached." She responded dully, paying no more attention to him.

Emmetto saw the cloaked boy tighten his fist, he smirked in response. Then he turned to the pixie girl. "When do we leave, Arisu?" Emmetto asked, humoring himself by watching Ari look around the dark hood to find Nagehiko's face.

Arisu stopped what she was doing and blanked out for a moment, then she turned to the blonde onmyuoji-dresses boy "27.5 seconds." She replied

"Why so long?" Wilhelmina asked, smiling.

Arisu sighed "Because I'll be busy whining about how I don't want to go see the Patch."

"Well, get over it." Emmetto ordered "Because we're leaving now."

Emmetto hopped on Jeikobu's furry back with "Heika" and Nagehiko, Arisu sighed and followed behind with Wilhelmina, all of them also entering the waters to go and join the others.

…

"HAO-SAMA! TOO FAST!" Luchist said as they flew in the deep blue waters.

Hao ignored most of the screams and yells coming from Luchist, Opacho, Horo, and Chocolove. He was thankful that at least Faust and Ren were able to control themselves. He carefully looked past the groups of fish, corals, or anything that got in the way of what he searched for…then he saw it. The continent of Mu.

The engine sounded hard and rough as Hao slammed on the gas pedal, then after a few more screams from the others there was a crash and they were now safely on "land". Hao smirked at the perfect landing and got out of the car while the others recovered from the shock. He carefully inspected the damage of the car and scratched his head "Good thing this piece of junk is just an oversoul." He told himself as he saw the huge damage he'd done.

The bumper completely fell off, _probably from the crash_ Hao thought, then there was the problem where the tires were completely flat. Hao laughed at that, looks like he won't be driving for a while, the car was a total mess! Then he saw a shadow forming below him, getting bigger and bigger in seconds, he looked up and saw a different car coming down.

He stared at it as finally it hit the ground, well actually it fell on Luchist's car with the others still inside. He raised a brow, waiting for something else, like and explosion or something to happen. When it didn't, he walked over to the pile of rubble and bent down.

"You guys alive?" he asked uninterested in an answer.

He saw a piece of metal move and in an instant it flew in the air and out from under it came out Horohoro.

"What kind of question is that!" he shouted in irritation.

"The kind of question meaning that I really don't care if you're alive or not." Hao responded calmly.

"AAGGHH! You bastard!"

Chocolove held Horohoro back from doing anything. "Calm down Horohoro! You're opponent is Hao!"

"I don't care!" Horo shouted, fidgeting around, trying hard to shake Choco off of him "I'll kill him like the piece of shit he is!"

Hao rolled his eyes.

"Why couldn't _you_ die?" he joked, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and his head being supported on his right hand.

"WHY YOU!"

"That's enough Horohoro." Ren said.

He stood up from the pile of metal, just as the others began as well, and he walked over to them. His face was covered in dust, but with one quick wipe of his hand, he rubbed it all off. "We need to hurry and find the Patch." He ordered.

Hao stood up. "You don't have to tell me twice." He said, now in a dull but serious tone. "Luchist."

The pile of metal slowly evaporated into the air as Luchist and Marco both undid their oversouls, revealing everyone who had been crushed underneath.

This is how they were:

Faust was at the bottom with Eliza beside him, Ryu was on top of the both of them, Marco was over Ryu's back, Manta was on top of Marco, Lyserg was right side up on Marco and Manta, Tamao, Opacho, and Jeanne were both on Lyserg.

"Itai~" Manta groaned in pain, as well as the others under him.

There was an echo of laughter coming from behind and instinctively everyone turned to the sound. Hao just stood still not bothering to turn to look at whomever was behind him; eight different thoughts poured into his head.

He closed his eyes and half-smiled. "Well looks like there's no need to look for guys," –he turned around- "is there, Patch?"

"The Patch!" Ryu yelled in surprise and pushed himself up with his long muscular arms, causing everyone on top of him to fall back to the ground with a _**thump**_. They all mounted right back up on their feet and angled themselves to the view of the Patch.

The Patch Tribe all stood there, in a perfectly straight line, each one facing Hao and company, the lower half of their faces grim, and their eyes being shadowed by their hair long coal hair.

"You guys have something that belongs to me" –Hao went on menacingly- "and I want her back. Unless you all wish to do otherwise…" he let himself trail off, already knowing their answer.

The Indian-like shaman equipped themselves with their spirits on their shoulder or on their sides, all set to crusade with the shamans before them. Then they heard a loud gnarl heavy running footprints. And in the blink of their eye a large bloodless white bear with golden armor stood 25 feet before them. Everyone who was behind the mammoth bear winced, full of surprise and fear… all except the great Asakura Hao, of course.

Hao just eyed the bear from top to bottom, looking almost impressed by its strong, durable appearance.

"Interesting." He muttered with two fingers on his chin. "You impress me, Arisu."

"Arisu?" "Arisu?" the other voices murmured around him.

Then they heard them, coming from the ocean above them, falling, closing the distance between them and the underwater continent with no slowing effort at silence. Both sides were motionless in expectation. But the Patch's side scowled in fresh confusion.

Then Arisu gracefully fell onto the clearing from above, landing on her feet. Beside her landed Jeikobu with a loud _**BANG**_ as his huge furry Grey paws hit the ground, with "Heika", Nagehiko, Hana and Emmetto with his eyes sharp fierce.

Then, finally, down came a huge featured creature, moving the air on the continent with its long amber wings. On its back was Wilhelmina, her eyes as sharp and fierce as Emmetto's, her spirit's eyes reflected hers.

All the Patch watched, speculation in their eyes, as the unknown latecomers came and went over to Hao's side of the continent. They eyed each one of them. Curiosity came to them as they saw the two hooded ones on the wolf's back, then they gazed at the, impossibly, perfect looking shaman who came with them.

But out of those three, their eyes fell on Arisu. Her golden eyes were full of rancor, bother, disgust, and irritant loathe. Her stance was cautious but at the same time prepared for any attack.

It was as if she had hated the Patch for centuries.

Ren smirked at the expressions the Patch gave. _'How could eight priests be afraid of such a Barbie?_' He asked himself. Hao just looked on at the Patch as their eyes traveled from Ari, to the huge polar bear, then back at Ari, a smile formed on his face.

"So are you going to tell me what I need to know?" he asked.

"I believe they won't either way…" the brown haired girl said –She jumped off the 25 feet tall wolf and landed perfectly on her feet with Hana still in her arms.- "At least not until they know what has come about."

The Patch's heads all jerked to the ringing sound of "Heika's" voice, they were silent and did not ask questions as to who she was and why she was holding the Shaman Prince. Though it was Nichrome who spoke up, causing looks of confusion from the older members of his tribe.

"You look well…Nianna." He said with a grin on his face, as he recognized the ringing sound of the girl's voice.

Heads jerked, and questions began to form in the tip of the shamans' tongues, desperately wanting to know what the hell was going on. Hao and Opacho rapidly began skimming through Nichrome's thoughts, trying hard to find the source of the name that belonged to the brown haired girl. The brown haired girl ignored all the whispers and murmurs behind her, she only looked at Nichrome and smiled.

"I see you remember me well. I'm not surprised." She courtly said, earning a snarl from Nagehiko who in an instant appeared beside her.

Nichrome smiled in response. "Heika"/Nianna turned to Arisu, who had not let her guard down once.

"Ari, undo your oversoul." She politely ordered.

Arisu hesitated. She looked at Nianna, then at the Patch, then her eyes landed on Hao, who seemed to be trying to look through her. Hao noticed that while she looked at him her eyes went blank for a few almost unnoticeable seconds. She shivered before she let out a sigh,

"Hoshi." She softly called as she looked down at the ground.

The mammoth bear turned its white head to look at her, then disappeared into a ball at her a moment everyone was silent, pondering over what was going on, until a certain Tao had enough.

Ren pulled out his spear and aimed it directly under Nianna's chin, right at her neck. The girl didn't even wince. "I don't like things that are unclear," he said in a malicious tone "so why don't you explain what is going on…_Nianna_ am I right?"

Nianna just looked at the spear and shrugged "I guess it can't be helped." She said before turning to the cloaked Nagehiko.

He angled his head and looked at her for a brief moment, hesitating, before reaching out for the girl's cloak and in one hard tug-

He ripped it off of her and it slowly glided down to the ground.

Ren dropped his spear. Ryu choked on who knows what. Chocolove and Horo's mouth dropped to the ground. Marco's glasses cracked. Jeanne, Lyserg, Manta, and Tamao stared in awe. Faust dropped Eliza, whom he was holding in his arms until just now. Opacho fainted. Luchist broke his gun from clutching it too tight.

And Hao's eyes widened for the first time in who knows how long.

The girl before them, the one who had hidden her face beneath the cloak, now stood there…completely cloakless.

Her brown hair flowed down, a bit past her shoulders; her face was a peach color and completely flawless in every aspect of perfection; and her eyes were a smooth emotionless auburn, which matched Anna's, as well as her face. Her clothing were similar to Anna's usual dress, only with longs sleeves that had wide cuffs, and it was a brown color with Patch symbols around the ends of the dress. And on her dress was a, metal-looking, chest armor which all the Patch wore.

It was as if Anna was looking inside a mirror right in front of them and this is what she saw.

A black-haired, reflection of Anna…that was exactly what she was…_that_ was the _only_ way to describe her appearance.

Then it hit Hao, it hit him as if someone had swung an imaginary baseball bat with the word "duh" written all over it. Nianna. 'Ni' meaning 'two' and adding it to Anna's names. Hao mentally chuckled. The Patch had never been good with names. All the time they would name themselves after elements in the Periodic Table, never once being unique.

"My name is indeed Nianna." the brown haired girl announced in her clear, bell-sounding voice. As she continued, it was apparent she had prepared herself to tell this story, her story.

"The Shaman Queens have existed since the first Shaman King had been born, constantly being a great help for the Patch, but this time in order to protect her from an…'evil being'" –she gestured her head towards Hao- "she was forced to stay away from this continent until the preparations for Shaman Fight were soon to begin. But when the time came closer, Goldva realized Anna-san did not have knowledge of being Queen or helping with the preparations…"

She trailed off to let out a sigh, she shook her head mournfully, and then she continued. "That's when she decided to make a…copy of Anna-san, so to say." She stopped and smiled at herself.

Faust looked intrigued _'A new way of cloning.'_ he noted in his head. He looked at Eliza with a hopeful look, and began making calculations in his head.

He cleared his throat. "Nianna-san," –Nianna turned to him- "You're made out of what?" he casually asked, trying hard to hide the eagerness in his voice.

The girl smiled, "Earth." She casually replied. "Earth wetted by the holy water, stirred with the winds of the Aztec Eagle and shocked by the thunder of Taoism."

Faust took a mental note of this. His lazy eyes began to glisten with excitement, his smile never leaving his face.

Everyone else was trying hard to process the story through their heads. An _Anna clone_. That was unbelievably incredible.

Nichrome deviously smirked at Nianna and then said "You are not going to tell them about your defect?" saying it like if she was some sort broken toy.

Nianna shrugged. "Why not?" She said, unhesitating, Nichrome's face fell due to her calmness. "I had all the elements in me," she began once more "but I was missing the element of fire." –Hao swore Nagehiko shot him a look from under the hood of his brown cloak- "That element was the one that was suppose to make me…'human'. But since I was missing it many things happened. I grew impossibly rapid, getting an older body with only a few years of age, and still growing."

"My furyoku would not recover once I lost it, causing me to grow weak when I created the Island where the Shaman Fight was held. I never got my Reishi; therefore I didn't know what Goldva planned when Anna-san appeared with Yoh-san in the Shaman Fights…she planned to get rid of me."

She shivered as the memory came to her. "She used an old ancient unreliable method to do it, leaving me only half dead; with her thinking I was fully gone. But I remained alive and eventually met Soraguimi." –She pointed two fingers towards Emmetto, Wilhelmina, and Arisu.

Lyserg, Jeanne, Marco, and Tamao all found this name familiar for some reason, though they couldn't remember a thing. Hao's expression on the other hand darkened suddenly.

"Since I did not receive the last element I could not be fully 'human'. I cannot control my feelings; they are controlled by the way the Shaman Queen is suppose to be. So…" she looked at Hao and wrinkled her face in plain disgust. "So when the King was first announced, the first instinct was…love towards the King."

Tamao suddenly felt jealousy flood through her body, she tried hard to restrain herself from asking a certain question, but her weakness didn't let her.

"Ano…you…love Master Yoh?" Tamao asked timidly, feeling bubbles of jealousy bursting from within her.

Nianna looked at her smiling, Tamao felt her heart sank. "No…" the brown haired girl responded.

Relief washed over her, she felt the bubbles disappear inside her and involuntarily let out a sigh.

"Then…who…?" Manta asked.

Nianna continued to stare Hao's direction; everyone's eyes grew, including his. But the expression on his face was quite unlike the others.

It was a strong mixture of shock, puzzlement and amazement, and he simply gaped at her for a full ten seconds; her expression faltering, now being exchanged with a rather offended looks, almost defiant. "You mean _me_?" he asked her, his eyes still wide in exclamation.

She nodded, her face blank, but by looking at her eyes and hearing her voice you could tell that she wasn't entirely expressionless. "It's a horrible defect." She replied bitterly.

"I'd rather think it as amusing." Nichrome responded. The Patch all looked at him in wonder.

The girl glared hard at him, before turning back to Hao.

"Gomen." She dully said with a shrug. "I did not realize about Annaka until you all came to the village. But I do not like to see people suffer due to me, therefore that is why I am exchanging her life for mine. It has nothing to do with you."

She said the last sentence with such a cold tone that even Luchist, Ren, and Marco flinched at it.

Hao just smirked. "I don't care what your decision is in all of this; I only wish to get my wife back. With or without your help." His face was a mock.

But then he got serious, he knew now why they had mistaken Annaka for…_Nianna._ The two looked identical to Anna so it wasn't a huge mistake, but…

'_They still have my wife.'_ Hao reminded himself.

He searched the heads of the Patch, scanning, seeing if anyone of them knew where she was…he found the answer in Nichrome's head.

Then in an instant he ran past the Patch before they could make any defense or attack to stop him. Which they didn't bother to do.

The others on Hao's side went and followed behind him keeping their weapons in hand, prepared for any sudden attacks. They ambled fast, easily chasing him into a huge room, leaving the Patch alone with their thoughts.

When they were out of sight, Silva turned to the youngest Patch.

"Nichrome," he began, his low tone was a warning. "How do you know about all this while _we_ stay in the dark as to what they are talking about?"

Nichrome dully looked at him, not bothering to show fear at his warning voice.

"Goldva decided to get me to teach her what I knew about the Patch, just for a while at least. Until she should see our ways, it's no reason for you to worry."

Kalim stood by Silva's side equally annoyed. "This has been going on for years and Goldva never decided to tell the rest of us of a threat caused by her!"

A smile came up on the young boy's tan face. He chuckled soft before answering his fellow brothers, who eyed him as if he were insane for laughing at such a great threat that had been alive for years.

"Nianna…is only three years old."

…

Hao ran as fast as he could, feeling the aura of the others trailing behind him. He didn't need to look behind him to know it was his side that was following him, he didn't care.

Instead he concentrated hard, searching, scanning the rooms for a familiar mental echo in his head, he finally heard it.

It echoed loudly in his head, as Annaka's thoughts reached him.

'…_for the love of all that is holy…no…'_

Hao felt a sharp pain in his chest. _ 'Take a right,'_ he ordered himself _'Take a damn right!'_ His body finally listened and turned right, leading him and the others into an enormous room; the one in Nichrome's thoughts, the one where Hao heard her voice, the one where Annaka was in…

And there they saw her, in a large container full of water, rocks, cutting metal, and longs shocks of lightning, she was being tortured deeply, the rocks and metal cutting roughly through her pale skin, the lightning shocking her, sending rays of electrical activity through her veins…her life was almost at an end.

Manta felt weak, this was worse than seeing a million people die right in front of him, this was unnatural, unreal, and completely wrong.

"Annaka!" Hao shouted.

The name echoed through the whole room, ringing through everyone's ears, including the almost unconscious blonde.

She dully opened her wine eyes, their color matching the red water that she was in. her eyes looked everywhere searching for the source of the voice, then her eyes landed on who she was looking for. Her mouth curved up in a smirk.

Hao's mouth mashed into a hard line. How cruel the world was indeed. Here was an angel being tortured with such cruelty for no apparent reason, and yet she didn't smile at thinking her life could be saved. She smiled because she saw him.

Life was unfair.

Ren, who had been surrounded by death all of his life, was amazed at the way they were taking the blonde's life. The cruelty was too much. But what was ticking him off the most was the Patch Elder at the side who watched with an amusing look on her face as she watched the girl die. He saw the two twins trying hard to avoid eye contact with anyone; obviously they were being forced to do this treacherous thing.

Goldva took a step toward them. "I see you arrived to save her, eh? Well I'm afraid it's almost too late for her, as you all can obviously see."

"You're one hell of a bitch Goldva." Horo criticized in an obvious pissed off mood.

"To force two small children to something like _this,_ it's unforgivable." Ryu said taking out his katana aiming it at Golva's head. "I will protect all tiny lovely ladies, and fight for their free wills." He finished.

Goldva snorted. "Haha! Their own free will! You know nothing about us Patch do you?"

Ryu grimaced at the comment.

"The ten Patch Officials' task is to organize the fight that will decide the new Shaman King. My granddaughters were the priestess chosen to teach this to the future Ten Officials' that follow." The Patch Elder stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

Lyserg felt the pixie girl move uncomfortably beside him, out of the corner of his eye he saw that she was viciously glaring at Goldva, her fist both clenched, and her teeth were gritted.

"Calm down, Ari." He heard Wilhelmina order the girl in a low whisper.

Arisu struggled. "I…I. Can't." she hissed as Goldva went on.

"They are both burden with a great and important mission. We Patch have no free will; all of it is decided by the Great Spirit. That's the way it will be, and I, will not allow that to EVER change."

There was a loud snarl and Arisu pushed everyone out of her way, bringing out Hoshi in his golden armor. Hoshi instantly disappeared into the two claws that the girl had hanging from her belt. The belt stiffened and turned into a two sided kama*, with the two bear claws as the blades. She did all this in 3 seconds and then launched herself at Goldva, until Lyserg tried to stop her.

"Morphine!" he shouted as the small fairy entered the crystal pendulum and flew almost invisibly around the girl, tying her down and pulling her back to where she was.

Ari struggled growling long vicious breathes. "Let. Me. Go." She ordered, struggling to get out.

There was a sigh from Emmetto as he walked over to her, he bent down in front of her and for a while Ari was still and silent.

"Ari," he began, his voice soft but demanding. "Will you calm down, please?"

She struggled to answer back, as if someone was keeping her from talking. "Emmetto," she hissed "Let. Me. See!"

Tamao shivered at the sound of Ari's words, recalling her own moment with Emmetto, her sight not working, her body not responding to her commands to move. '_I didn't numb your sense of talk.'_ She shivered and blush at the sound of his strong but sweet voice in her head.

Hao heard the words Tamao was repeating but ignored it. There were other things he was worrying about. He walked over to where the Patch Chief stood, a sound echoing from under him.

Footsteps; the soft, almost musical-like pattering brought down upon the ground with each step like the ghostly rhythm to a song, a serene atmosphere brought upon the almost gruesome scene with haunting definition.

Darkness fell and light was brought upon. The footsteps echoed throughout the entire room until it slowly beat down to soft pats onto the ground below.

"I want my wife, Goldva." He demanded -his tone violent and cruel, bringing shivers down the shamans' backs.-

Goldva smiled "You want her half-dead?" Hao clenched his teeth together in response.

"Enough. Goldva."

Goldva's head jerked at the sound of the ringing voice, the one who was similar to Anna's. She saw Nianna, standing there, holding the Shaman Prince in her arms, her eyes baring holes right through the Elder.

Fire erupted and coursed fire between the two of them. Enemies that at one time were practically family.

"Nianna…" Goldva said, not hiding the disgust in her tone. "If I would have known you would have come yourself I would have spared Annaka here, her life. Or…does her life not concern you?"

Nianna looked at Annaka_. _"Gomen." She told her and all Annaka did was give a glare in response to her insincere apology.

Oblivious to the glare, Nianna handed Hana over to Ryu, who blinked as he watched the girl walk towards the Elder. Goldva gave a despicable smile and turned around, her back now towards the brown haired girl. The girl glared at her back.

"You're an arse, Goldva." She said, and boy did she mean it.

Goldva froze, stunned, she slowly turned her head, trying to keep calm. "What. Did. You. Say?"

Nianna smirked and took a step back for every word that came out of her mouth.

"You."_–step-_ "Are."_-step-_"An."_-step-_ "Arse."

Goldva shook in anger. "You…DARE TO CURSE IN THE BODY OF A QUEEN!" she shouted out in rage. "_**BIG CHIEF!"**_

The big eagle came out from the ground making holes and bricks roll from underneath it as it came out.

"Destroy her!" the Patch shouted out.

The mammoth bird clenched at fist and threw it the girl, Nianna only stood there smirking smugly as it came towards her.

"Shit, what is she doing?" Horo shouted.

Him and Chocolove oversouled and launched themselves in front of the bird; Horohoro was able to grabbed and push aside the birds hands, while Chocolove grabbed Nianna and pulled her away with him.

"Has all that dirt finally gone to your head?" Chocolove yelled at her while holding her in his arms.

"Put me down." She dully ordered.

Chocolove did as told; he placed her down across the room beside him. Nianna turned to him, her eyes focused and serious.

"McDonnell Chocolove, I need you to injure me." She told him.

He stared at her through his shades; she wanted him to _injure her?_

"Ahhhggg!" Horohoro yelled as Big Chief knocked him out of the way by punching him hard in his gut, causing him to go crashing into the wall.

Next Ren, Faust and Lyserg launched themselves as well.

"Bason: _**BUSHIN FISH FIN; RASIOU!**_"

"Eliza: _**MEPHISTO E!**_"

"Morphine, Zeruel: _**MASTEMA DOLKEIA;**_ _**TENSHI NO HONOO!**_"

Each attack flew with amazing speed invisible to a regular person's eyes, but yet it would seem these four attacks were not enough, Big Chief shifted to his right and all the blast did was cut through one of his arms, which of course was easily restored.

Goldva smirked at the four shamans' expressions of surprise. "Big Chief…knock them out with your strength!"

The half eagle oversoul lifted one of his enormous hands and with one quick swing, knocked the shamans into the wall next to Chocolove and Nianna.

"Guys!" Manta shouted, Tamao shut her eyes to avoid looking at her friends getting injured.

"They can't do anything about it." Wilhelmina told them. The two jerked their heads to look at her, amazed by her words. Wilhelmina didn't look at them, she just locked her gaze on the fight occurring in front of her, her expression blank and bored. "They are not using the Elemental Spirits, that's why they cannot win at the moment. Last time you guys fought Goldva _you guys_ didn't kill her, that sandy-blonde haired girl with the robot did." She reminded them, referring to Seyram.

"At the moment," Emmetto said, interrupting their thoughts, "we don't know what to expect, we don't know who will win. Seeing as last time the girl, Seyram, took Goldva by surprise." He looked down at Arisu, who was no longer tied down by Lyserg, due to the fact he went to fight Big Chief, but the girl didn't move. It was as if something was still holding her down. Emmetto smirked at her, still in front of her view. Tamao felt as if someone dumped cold water on her, by the way he looked up and stared at her, "If we all just keep a calm head I'm sure we'll be able to find a way through all this." He said.

Tamao saw a smile forming on the blonde boy's lips, it wasn't a regular smile, it was a smile as if he knew something they didn't, like some hidden joke that only he understood. Hao noticed this smile too and narrowed his eyes, hard, as if trying to get inside the boy's head, but something was blocking him from reading Emmetto's and the rest of Soraguimi's heads.

"I can't _see_." Arisu complained still on the floor. "Emmetto, _please_ let me _see_."

Emmetto gave that secret smile again, this time Wilhelmina joined him.

Hao was irritated enough. Annaka was losing more blood. He could tell by the fact that the water was now a darker shade of red.

Ryu handed Hana over to Tamao, who stood beside Marco, then Ryu took out his katana. "Let's go Tokageru!" he said and went to join in the battle.

"LET ME _SEE_!" Ari wailed, in annoyance.

Jeanne stared at the girl. She turned to Emmetto "Why not move aside to let her see?"

Emmetto ignored her, Arisu on the other hand didn't. "I don't need _you_ of all people to help me." She coldly hissed.

Marco fumed. "Why you unworthy-"

"Marco." Jeanne interrupted "Don't."

The X-Law looked at her in disbelief. "Maiden-sama! She just spoke rudely to you! That's unforgiva-"

The Maiden looked at him with dark eyes, and he immediately shut his mouth, earning a few chuckles from Luchist behind him. Tamao looked worried between the Arisu and the Maiden, who looked at her with hurt eyes.

"Ano…" –Emmetto looked up at her- "maybe you _should_ let her see." She told him shyly, blushing like mad and hiding her face behind Hana's tiny body. Emmetto stared at her for a while, causing Tamao to turn red and hide behind Jeanne and Marco, with Hana still in her arms. "Or not!" she responded once she was behind her safe sanctuary. Emmetto said nothing he just moved out of the way, and Arisu let out a long sigh, as if a whole bunch of weight had been lifted off her.

And for once Hao heard/saw the boy's thoughts as Emmetto got distracted by Tamao's voice.

_The image of a girl, slender, pale, long pink hair and pink eyes that showed nothing but malice, as if her eye color was made by a lighter shade of blood._

Then the image was gone, blocked once again. And Hao saw Emmetto glare at the red headed Chinese shaman, whose eyes never left the fight in front of her, but her lips were curled up in an evil smile.

Lyserg and Faust crashed into a wall far off to the right, while Ren and Horo crashed right back to Chocolove's side, and Ryu crashed right into the ground making a huge crater in the floor

Nianna looked at Choco, "Do it now." She ordered.

Chocolove hesitated. Ren struggled to get up. "What is it you want?" he demanded to know.

She turned to the Tao. "Injure me," she told him, her face serious. "Injure me now."

Ren blinked and thought about it for a second, until he saw Goldva's spirit now running towards them out of the corner of his eye.

He sighed very quickly. "Where?" he asked.

"My arm."

Big Chief was now approaching, rapidly closing the distance. His footsteps shaking the place as if it were a city in the middle of an earthquake.

Nianna grew impatient "Stop thinking about it and do it now!"

Ren obeyed and took one swing of his _**BUSHIN FISH FIN**_at the girl's arm. A shriek escaped the girl's lips.

The ground shook viciously knocking many to the ground. All oversouls disappeared and the container of water across the room shattered, and Annaka's almost lifeless body fell to the floor with a thump. All of this happened with just one wail from the girl.

Goldva shook deeply from where she was standing; she fell to the ground in pain, she opened her mouth as if to speak; a rattle proceeded from the depths of her throat, her teeth chattered; she stretched out her arms in her agony, opening her hands convulsively ad fumbling about like a drowning person; then suddenly her hands fell back at the old woman's sides, limp. Lip and Rap dropped the cactuses in their hands and ran over to their grandmother. Faust ran after them, instantly connecting Goldva's body to a Multiparameter Monitor to check her heart rate.

Hao ran across the room to where Annaka laid, he scooped her into his arms and held her close to him.

She was losing so much blood that it was all rubbing against his clothes, but he didn't give a damn, he just held her tighter to his body to keep her close, not letting her body out of his sight.

"Faust!" he shouted "Get over here now!" he ordered in a loud shout.

Faust immediately rushed over to Hao's side, with Eliza trailing fast behind him, leaving Goldva adapted to the machine which gave off the beeping rate of her heart.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

Hao placed the blonde's body on the hard floor so Faust could examine her.

"Let's see," he began as he bent over "intense bleeding, trouble breathing, cuts and bruises, abnormally low pulse…" he mumbled to himself as he examined the blonde from top to bottom.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

"Get on with it Faust." Hao demanded behind him. He impatiently shifted his weight and crossed his arms, waiting for Faust to hurry up and cure his wife.

"Right." Faust nodded and returned to his work, placing his right hand over Annaka's chest.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

"_**CHOU. SENJIRYAKKETSU**_." He whispered into the air, bringing out a small fog of golden mist. Everyone waited until the fog cleared up, all impatient to see the results, when it did clear up they saw that Faust's hands were still on Annaka's chest. A puzzled look plastered across his pale, sweating face.

"Faust?" Ryu asked a seeing his teammate's expression "what's wrong?"

Faust began to breathe harder and sweat more. His face now completely wet and tired out.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

"I'm not sure." He responded through his loud breaths, "My furyoku is nearly gone and yet she won't awaken!"

"What!" they all shouted in unison.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

Hao pushed Faust out of the way and bent over to look at his wife. Her wounds were all gone, but yet she was pale as snow and hardly breathing, Hao placed his hand on her forehead; her skin was now cold and dry.

"That can be expected." A voice said.

He turned and looked at Nianna across the room, she was knelt down on the ground putting pressure on her bloody arm, Nagehiko was down beside her, ignoring the gaze from the others.

Hao narrowed his eyes at the girl. "What do you mean by expected?" he asked in an irritated hiss. At the moment he was in no mood for anything that would piss him off.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

Nianna turned her head so that she did not have to look at him in the eyes "The Shaman Queen's furyoku increases by day, we are meant to have unlimited furyoku until the king is born. But…Annaka-san was revived after the King's birth therefore her furyoku does not stop increasing until her death or…another five hundred years…"

Faust suddenly felt useless, the medicine needed to revive Annaka-san was far off from his skills, he felt as if he was a grand failure as a doctor of modern medicine. There was only silence among everyone until Faust voice broke out in a soft whisper.

"Funbari, funbari, working hard, Funbari, Funbari, it's been found…"

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

Hao felt his eyes grow abnormally, he looked down at Annaka, she was not breathing as much as before, Hao clenched his fist in anger. This was why he hated being human, he had no power, no control over one's death. Suddenly he regretted ever reviving his brother's wife, if he would have never revived Anna then…then what? Now that he thought about it, it was Anna who resurrected Annaka, who brought her back from 500 years ago. Why did she do it? Because she felt sorry for him? Because she had some motherly affection towards him? Or…because she was returning the favor of reviving her and letting her stay with Yoh?

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

Suddenly the answer didn't matter to him, _his_ wife was dying, and no one on this damn planet full of humans had enough furyoku to revive her, the only ones who _could_ revive her were still inside the Great Spirit.

Why the heck was life so unfair?

He pulled her to his arms once more, burying his head in her long -blood tinted- golden hair. He ignored the looks he was getting from everyone, looks of pity, helplessness, those looks that made the Asakura leader look weak. Every single one of Yoh's stupid friends looked at him that way, all except Opacho who stared at Annaka's almost soulless body with practically dilated eyes.

"H-Hao-sama" she said, shaking.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

All eyes were now on the small African girl. She walked over to where her Hao-sama was and looked at Annaka, not once bothering to blink.

"Hao-sama" she said in a tone full of awe. "Let go of Annaka-sama."

Hao for once was confused. "Opacho…" the small dark skinned girl gave him a look, Hao hesitated before he placed his wife on the ground.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

Opacho moved down to her little dark knees, leaning forward to the half-dead body, her expression suddenly intense in a strange way. Hao grew impatient.

"Opacho, what the hell is going on!" He shouted. He had enough, all he wanted to do was sit peacefully on the ground with his almost-deceased wife in his arms, and here was Opacho messing around with him.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

The little girl gently touched his face with her tiny hands. "Hao-sama, listen." She ordered, and she softly pulled his head on her chest.

There was a gasp from behind him but Hao ignored it, instead he concentrated on his hearing, which became a bit difficult due to that annoying Multiparameter monitor that he could hear all the way across the room.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

His faced grimaced and looked at Opacho, not moving his head off Annaka's stomach. "I don't hear anything!" he shouted in rage, "Opacho what am I suppose to be…" Opacho winced and Hao's eyes dilated about ten times as big as normal size. "Shit." He muttered out loud, earning looks from everyone around him.

_**BEEP**_

_**BEEP**_

He raised his head and froze, his gaze frozen on the half-dead body of his wife in front of him. His eyes wandered to her chest, it still moved up and down as if she were breathing. The Asakura placed his fingers on her neck. No pulse. Hao gritted his teeth together, "Shit. Shit. Shit!"

Finally it was Luchist that dared to ask what was going through Asakura Hao's head. "Hao-sama? What is the matter?" he asked, keeping his distance in case his master was to have an attack.

Hao looked at them, his eyes wild in anger, rage taking over him. "She…"

The beeping of the Multiparameter began accelerating, it's high pitched beeps suddenly growing more continuous in its rukus.

"…doesn't have a fucking heart."

The Multiparameter let out a long final tone that echoed throughout the silence of the whole Mu continent.

* * *

**DON'T. FORGET. TO. REVIEW.**


	9. Yoh

_Memories can be a wonderful thing  
Or they could be your worse enemy  
They can bring a smile to your face  
But sometimes you wish they would erase._

_-Annaka_

_The memory of loosing a parent is so hard at any age  
You just can't understand it and get worked up into such a rage_

_The memories of life can be so happy or so sad  
But you go on everyday with the good and the bad_

_-Asakura Hao_

_My body tingles as I lay there still feeling your body wrapped around mine  
I close my eyes and notice that there is nothing I can do but dream  
A memory of what we have, what we are _

_My heart pumps hard as I open my eyes and turn to see you with me  
The scent of you makes me wonder what could happen now? _

_They say "A memory will last a life time"  
I say "A memory will only last a life time as long as you can keep it alive inside of your heart"  
There is one thing that should be said  
Daisuke._

_-Asakura Yoh & Kyoyama Anna_

________________________________________________________________________

Anna continued to tow Yoh by the hand; he didn't seem to mind much, he just smiled while being pulled.

Anna found a small coffee joint further down the street, she dragged the brunette into the joint with her, and she deposited Yoh in a seat plus ordered hot chocolate for the both of them.

They both drank it in silence, waiting for a waitress to come and take their order. Finally when their hot chocolate was almost gone, a girl with orchid colored hair came up to them; her hair was in a high spiky ponytail, with her bangs framed to one side of her face, then two locks of hair were loose behind her bangs.

She wore a white fluffy apron over a pink school jacket, under the pink school jacket was a white blouse and she had on a purple skirt that came down to her mid-thigh. It was the same uniform he saw Misaka wear everyday.

She dully looked at her notepad, not bothering to change her gaze over to Yoh and Anna. "May I take your order?" she asked, her tone as dull as her expression.

Yoh seemed a bit confused at the hostess's un-perkiness, but the small blonde across from him seemed perfectly at ease. She crossed her legs from under the table and held the cup of hot chocolate in her tiny fragile hands. "A good woman smiles when greeting her guest." She curtly said.

For a second Yoh froze. _What happened to the nice childish Anna?_ He questioned. He wondered if the waitress would be mad and spit in their food or something because of the way Anna just talked to her.

The girl looked up from her notepad and smiled at Anna. "Ah, Kyoyama-sensei! You came once again to visit me, huh?"

Yoh looked from Anna to the hostess, and back to Anna. _Kyoyama-sensei_? He wondered why someone _older_ than Anna would call her sensei. The lavender-pink haired girl gazed in his direction, raising a brow at his adorable lazy-like expression.

'_Oh, my,'_ the orchid haired hostess's rather loud mental voice intruded Yoh and Anna's consciousness. '_My, oh, my.'_

This town seemed to turn heads at the sight of Yoh. Strange. That never happened before at his home town…or in the shaman fights. Though this was only the second girl hear that had shown any interest in him. _'I wonder how they would be with Hao?_' he asked himself, trying not to laugh at the thought of girls chasing his older brother.

The waitress placed her notepad under her arm, straightened her apron, and gave a slight bow. "Welcome to the Osore Café, I'll be your hostess for the time. Can I get you anything?"

Obviously her question was directed towards Yoh, but yet it was Anna-chan who answered her.

"You could start by giving us refills." She suggested curtly, taking a last sip from her hot chocolate. Yoh immediately agreed. "Hai. Refills would be good."

'Mmm! What a voice!' "Oh, er, yes! Sure thing!" she replied still dazed by Yoh's voice.

Yoh laughed in his head. _'She likes my voice?_' Across from him Anna was frowning as the hostess struggled to write their orders down on the notepad, catching a glimpse of Yoh every few seconds.

'_Your voice is not all she likes'_ she told him. Yoh grinned; it was cool to be able to talk to Anna this way. Though he didn't enjoy hearing other girls' thought, they were a bit…to the extreme.

"So," the waitress began, obviously trying hard to get Yoh's attention on her. "You're new to Machiosore?"

'_Machiosore? Is that what this place is called?'_ he wondered. Across the table he say Anna look up at the ceiling and back down, a nod, a secretive one too, the waitress didn't notice a thing.

"Hai, I'm here on business." Yoh responded. It seemed like the most casual thing to say. He hoped that the girl wouldn't ask more about it. But to his dismay she did.

"What kind of business?" she asked, still writing on the notepad. Seriously, how long does it take to write two hot chocolates?

Yoh pondered in the back of his head, searching for a good answer. "I'm here to look for someone who could be the sponsor of my wife's new soon-to-be inn." He said. Give the guy a break, all he had been thinking of all day was how much he wanted to get back to Anna, you can't blame him for mentioning her in his sentence.

'_Damn, he's married.'_ "Ah, I'm sure Kyoyama-sensei can help you with that!" –Yoh looked at Anna- "Her father is a doctor in the Oyamada Company, well more like a doctor/scientist. He also examines causes of deaths and stuff like that."

Anna's father in the _Oyamada industry?_ Somehow this fact bothered Yoh, sort of like a bad gut-feeling.

Anna sneezed and immediately caught Yoh's attention. He jerked up out of his seat and handed her a napkin. "Are you okay, Anna-chan?" he asked her.

"Hai. It was just a sneeze." She replied, grabbing the napkin and blowing her nose into it. Yoh smiled and Chizuru cleared her throat.

"Kyoyama-sensei, I just remembered I wrote an article last night and was hoping you could give me your opinion." –She placed an article on the table- "I felt like using this as my topic since nothing like this has ever happened in this town. Please read it while I go get your refills."

She took the empty mugs off the table and placed them on a round wooden tray she carried on one arm, then she winked at Yoh on her way out. Yoh blushed and returned his attention back across the table. Anna was cheerlessly looking down at her hands which were both placed on her lap.

"Anna-chan?"

Anna didn't answer. Instead she shoved the document across the table over to Yoh. He picked it up with two hands and looked at it. He only had to read the title to figure out the source of the girl's downcast.

**SHIO YUI'S UNKNOWN MURDER**

You can imagine the cold chill that went down Yoh's body as he read those words, the picture of Yui's cold dead body in her room with the trails of her blood…

He shook the image out of his head. Not wanting to think about what other things Anna was capable of.

"I had one of those headaches last night…and well…"

She didn't have to finish, Yoh saw it all in her head; her pain, the spirit balls, the shriek, the oni, all of it. How Hao could ever tolerate reading minds ALL the time he would never understand. You could see everything, every single memory and thought in their head.

Yoh was about to say something until he was interrupted by a friendly booming voice. "~Anna-chan~!" the voice sang.

Yoh looked behind him. Cadm stood there in a dirty white apron, drying his hand with a rugged dish towel. He gave them that lively smile. Yoh smiled back, so did Anna.

"Taking another break, Cadm-tou-san?" she asked, her voice cheerful and happy.

"Hai! I just came to check up on my two favorite people in Machiosore!" he said, giving Yoh a hard pat on the back.

Yoh blinked before pointing to Anna and himself. "You mean us?" he asked cluelessly, earning a giggle from the small blonde.

Cadm laughed. "Why else would I take a break from my shift?" he asked, now use to Yoh's absentmindedness.

Yoh blinked once more. "You work here too?" he asked, referring to Cadm also selling artifacts in the morning.

Anna sighed. "You're a bit slow, Yoh-kun." She accused.

"And you get headaches too much," Cadm pointed out. "What else is new?"

Anna frowned; she crossed her arms in front of her and gave a small pout. "I can't help the fact that I am headache-prone." She complained.

Yoh busted out laughing. "It's the first time I see you act your age, Anna-chan!" he laughed.

Anna frowned even more. "Is that wrong?" she asked.

Yoh tried hard to speak between the laughter. "No, hahaha, its cute." He admitted.

Anna's frown softened at Yoh's compliment. Cadm took the newspaper and gazed at it, reading the first page, and then flipping to the next. "Its fine, Anna-chan. It's not like Misaka-san is suffering from her sister's death." He told her.

Yoh nodded. He too noticed that Misaka was pretty cheerful this morning, as if her sister _hadn't_ been viciously murdered by an unknown creature. Well unknown to humans at least. Anna closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

"Shio-san is just shallow." The small blonde coldly stated.

"That's not very nice, Anna-chan." Yoh complained, a smile tugging the corners of his lips.

Cadm flipped to the next page of the article while Anna gave a soft shrug. She stood up out of her chair and straightened out her pink dress, the same she wore yesterday. Then she turned to Cadm and gave a small bow.

"Arigatou for the chat, Cadm-tou-san." She thanked, walking over to Yoh and slipping her small hand into his. "We have to leave, but I'll come back another time. Let's go Yoh-kun!" she happily said.

Yoh smiled and waved goodbye to Cadm, heading out the door with Anna's tiny hand in his. "See you back at the house!" he yelled.

Cadm nodded and when the two were out of sight he began to chuckle. "You won't be coming to the house tonight." He said.

The waitress came back with two mugs of hot chocolate in her hands, she blinked when she saw that only Cadm was at the table. "Ano…she left without paying." She told Cadm.

Cadm looked up from the article in his hands and let out a sigh. "Just take it out of my pay check…"

---

"Brrr. It's freezing!" Yoh announced as they walked. Anna's small fragile hand was still in his, he noticed that her hand burned as if it were on fire or was dipped in boiling water, but he chose to ignore it. Anna's warm hand felt good against his frozen one.

"I think its fine out." Anna said smiling, "I like it when it snows, it feels nice and everything looks so pretty."

Yoh smiled. It was true; everything looks pretty in snow. _'Especially Anna.'_ He added in his head. How many times had he seen Anna in the snowy white flakes of snow and yet she looked flawlessly perfect? But when he sees her in this small form, he can't help but to see her as an adorably cute kid. Yet she was still amazingly flawless.

"You sure you're not cold?" he asked her looking at her small shivering body, her tiny lips trembling slightly as if her teeth were about to chatter. But yet she shook her head no.

"I'm fine. I'm a big girl, I can handle a little cold." She told him, obviously determined to keep her word, yet her body said otherwise.

"I don't think you can, Anna." He told, beginning to worry she might catch a cold or something. He had one before at her age and he remembered it was as if his body ran entirely out of energy, no kid has to go through something like that. Especially as full of energy as Anna.

"It's Anna-_chan_." She corrected him in a childish yet bossy tone.

"Huh?"

She sighed. "_Anna_, is your wife. I'm Anna-_chan_." She explained "I prefer to be called with chan at the end; it makes me feel my age."

Yoh couldn't help but smile. Only Anna would think of such things. He agreed to keep calling her Anna-chan, and she grinned, showing perfectly white teeth in her luminous smile.

"Yoh-kun, do you love your wife?"

Yoh looked at the ground hiding his red cheeks, but his expression not embarrassed, but soft. "Hai." He replied, now looking ahead. "We even have a kid."

Anna's brows shot up, she stopped dead in her tracks, and let go of Yoh's hand. Yoh thought he must have said something that disturbed her. Instead Anna twisted on her toes to face him and, to his surprise, started jumping up and down excitedly.

"Kya! You have a kid?! Kawai~! Is it a boy?! Does he look like you?! What about Anna-san? What's his name?! Kawai~ Yoh-kun is a 'tou-san!!" she said taking a leap after every sentence she said.

Yoh began to laugh, his headphones fell off his head, he bent over to pick them up, still laughing. "You really are a child Anna-chan" he laughed.

Anna stopped jumping and frowned, a small pout forming at her tiny lips. "Not entirely…" she protested.

Yoh smiled and petted her head of blond locks. "That's true." He agreed, still laughing. He placed his hand back beside him as Anna fixed her long hair. "Anna-chan, do you like kids?"

"Hai~!" she replied while spinning 'round and 'round a few steps in front of him. "When I" _-spin-_ "get older." _–spin-_ "I want…" _–spin-_ "a son!"

A son? So she's had that wish since she was this young? The desire of having a male offspring. It wasn't strange. Many Japanese families preferred a male offspring rather than female, due to carrying the family name and all, but a child like Anna doesn't think about those sorts of things do they? It didn't seem normal for them to.

"Why do you want a son?" he asked her. It was a question he'd wanted to ask Anna since that night before he left for America. That night when she told him that is she _were_ to get pregnant, she wanted a son.

Anna stopped spinning and turned her body to face him; she placed an arm behind her back and leaned forward to him. Yoh leaned in, ready to hear her answer.

The small blonde placed her index finger over her lips. "That's a secret." She whispered and went back to spinning her way down the road.

Yoh dropped to the floor. "That's not fair Anna-chan!" he protested, lifting himself off the cement road.

Anna gave a small smile and giggled, running off ahead, out of his sight. Yoh sat on the ground and crossed his legs, resting his head on one hand, and let out a sigh. _'Anna-chan is a bit energetic.'_ He let out another sigh _'That's a secret.'_ Her childish voice rang in his head.

"Wah~ that's too bad." He yawned sadly. He leaned back and put his arms behind his head, laid down on the ground, and closed his eyes. "I really wanted to know why Anna wanted a son."

****

_She just stood there, frozen in place, staring at him with surprised eyes. He had said yes to her, something she did not expect._

_Yoh on the other hand scooted to the right to make room for her, then he sat up and stared back at her. He gave her a warm smile, and she slowly walked over to where he was. She stopped at the futon and Yoh pulled the covers off, she then laid herself beside him and he pulled the covers over the both of them._

_Both lay facing the opposite direction from each other, neither saying a word._

_Then there was a soft snore, Anna winced and turned to face her snoring fiancé, she smiled at seeing him so sound asleep._

_She looked over his soft resting face, suddenly without noticing she reached out to touch it; her hand gently touched his face, tracing his smooth features._

_Then her finger landed on his lips, she felt the wind of his breathe reached her fingers, and she immediately pulled away, finally realizing what she was doing._

_She let out a sigh and looked at him once more. She didn't want him to leave; she wanted him to stay with her, by her side forever._

_But yet he was doing this for her…_

_He was keeping his promise, the promise he made to her on that day._

'Why couldn't I just run away with you when you asked me five years ago?'_ she mentally asked wishing she could go back and run away with him where no one could find them._

_She wished for so many things at the moment._

_She wished she could tell him who she was._

_She wished she could run away with him forever._

_She wished she didn't have to be rude to keep him away from her true self._

_She wished…she could kiss him…_

_She hung her head and shook it. She couldn't possibly be thinking of that…could she?_

_Once more his sleeping body caught her gaze; she shifted closer to his resting body and leaned in towards him, slowly closing the space between them…but then she stopped._

_It wasn't fair to Yoh if she did without his permission, she couldn't do it without his permission._

_She pulled herself away and sat up, looking down at her hands._

"_Anna?"_

_She froze at the sound of her fiancé calling her name; she hesitated, but dared to turn her head._

_Yoh was there gazing at her, wide awake._

"_Weren't you asleep?" she blurted out without thinking._

_Yoh hung his head and blushed. "Ano…I though it would help you sleep if you thought I was asleep so…"_

_Anna's eyes grew at his words, he wasn't asleep, not even when she was...it was now her turn to blush; she looked down at the covers, away from his gaze,_

_She then felt two soft and warm, gentle hands cupping her face…it was Yoh._

_She stared at him as he angled her head to face him, "Yoh…"_

_Yoh was blushing madly as he brought her face close to his; thanking the Lord that Anna had not slapped him yet. Instead she let him guide her face to his, her eyes full of wonder, his eyes full of warmth and determination._

_He stopped as soon as Anna's face was only an inch away from his; he raised a brow and sheepishly asked "Can I?"_

_Anna hesitated for a moment and saw Yoh's face slowly come down as she thought about it for more, then she gave a soft nod._

_Yoh reddened some more before finally closing the small space between them._

_His lips pressed onto hers, sweetly and softly kissing her with plenty of love._

_Then the kiss increased in passion; Anna's arms wrapped themselves around his neck, greatly deepening the kiss, Yoh's hands strayed from her cheeks to her waist, carefully placing it there._

_They didn't notice anything, not even as they fell back, lying back down on the futon, their lips still moving in perfect synchronization._

_Anna's robe began to fall off her shoulders, it fell down to her elbows, but her chest still remained unexposed due to Yoh being over her._

_It wasn't until Yoh felt Anna's hands untangle themselves from around his neck, and were now pulling off his yukata, that he realized what they were doing._

_He pulled himself off of her, leaving her whimpering on the futon, desiring for more._

"_Gomen Anna! Gomen!" he yelled pulling himself further away from her._

_Anna sat up looking at him, confused. "What are you apologizing for?" she asked, her breaths still uneven._

_Yoh looked at her, now noticing that her yukata no longer covered her chest, he blushed some more and looked away._

"_For…um…almost…" –He pointed to her bare chest- "…you know."_

_Anna looked down, finally noticing her loose yukata; she pulled it up and kept it there with one of her hands._

"_There's…no reason for you to apologize, Yoh." She told him, not bothering to look at his red face._

"_But we almost MADE LOVE!" he shouted, he froze at the words, then hid his face in the covers, realizing what he just shouted out. "I shouldn't be allowed to be here with you…" he muffled into the covers._

_Anna looked at her yukata and a soft pink glow came upon her cheeks. "So what if we did? There's…nothing wrong with that." She said._

_Yoh jerked his head up to stare at her with wide eyes. Nothing wrong with that? Was she feeling okay?_

"_Unless…" she hesitated "you do not find me attractive. Or don't have any desires..."_

_Yoh's hands flew and grabbed her arms "No Anna! That's not true! I…" he hesitated with his words "I think you're…*gulp* the most…most beautiful girl I know…" he finished quietly, his face so red you could mistake it for a tomato. He jerked a pillow out front behind him and slammed his face in it._

_Anna just looked at him; her heart was pounding so hard she was surprised Yoh couldn't hear it. He actually found her attractive? Her who tortured him dearly and nearly kills him with her dark, emotionless façade?_

"_Then, will you make love to me?" she asked innocently, biting her bottom lip, hiding the fear she had of his rejection._

_Yoh wanted to say yes, he had the urge to, but… "I can't, Anna."_

_Anna fought back tears that were forming in her eyes; there was now a lump in her throat. "Why?" she hoarsely asked._

_Yoh dropped his arms and looked away from her. "What if I hurt you?"_

"_You won't."_

"_What'll I tell people if they find out?"_

"_They don't need to know."_

"_It's not right."_

"_We're engaged, Yoh."_

"_But Anna what if…what if you get pregnant?" he asked worriedly, a lump forming in his throat at everyone's reaction to a pregnant Anna._

_Anna didn't look worried, her face was blank, there was something in her eyes, but Yoh didn't know what. She was silent, not answering to his question, and for a second Yoh thought that maybe she gave up, but this was Anna._

_She turned her body to face him, then she got closer to him, and positioned herself in his arms, Yoh froze. Stunned by the sudden touch of her perfect, fragile, body in his arms; he looked down at her, as she placed her head on his well built chest._

"_Anna…" His throat was going dry, he felt it, boy how much he wanted something that he knew what was wrong. How much he loved her._

"_-if that happens"-she said- "then I want a son."_

_What could he say? She wanted him to make love to her, heck; he _wanted_ to make love to her. But yet what if he left and then in the tournament he would happen to…not make it._

"_No, Anna." He answered her._

_Anna felt tears forming at her eyes again; she pushed herself out of his arms and began to walk, away from him. Then Yoh reached out and grabbed her right arm, she turned to look at him, and at that instant he pulled her right back into his arms._

_He held her tightly against his perfect bare chest. "I can't, Anna, I can't!" he moaned with agony._

"_Please Yoh," she said, her plea was muffled against Yoh's skin "Please."_

_He felt a sharp pain in his chest as he heard her pleas and felt her tears against his chest. He wasn't agreeing with her because he didn't want to hurt her, but yet…she was already in pain._

"_I understand if you don't love me-" she muffled against his chest._

_That did it. In an instant, with amazing reflexes, he pulled her to him and kissed her with fierce lust and sweet love that he had been holding back._

_She surrendered herself to him, allowing him to do whatever he desired with her, allowing each other to show their passion, their need, and…_

_Their absolute love for each other._

****

"Say AH, Yoh-kun!" a childish voice said, interrupting Yoh from remembering his memories of that night.

He opened his eyes, Anna-chan stood over him looking down at him, her small head blocking Yoh from the rays of blinding sunlight. In her hands was a cup and a small plastic spoon. Yoh sat up, blinking the sleepiness away from his drowsy eyes.

"Ah? What was that an-" the small girl stuffed his mouth with a spoonful of something cold that froze the inside of his mouth.

"AH! That's cold Anna-chan!" he yelled out, squirming up to his feet, earning a giggle fit from the small girl.

"Of course its cold, Yoh-kun, its shaved ice." She giggled, popping a spoonful of it into her mouth. She began walking again with Yoh trailing at her side.

"How can you be eating shaved ice in the winter time?" Yoh asked, blowing warm air into his hands. Anna shrugged and popped another spoonful into her mouth.

"I dwon't fweel thwat itz culd" she said with her mouth full of ice, she gulped it down and smiled. Yoh laughed. "Besides…" she said taking another spoonful "Its orange flavored!" she announced.

The brunette blinked. He never thought that Anna like oranges, she always threw out his, and she's always eating apples not oranges. "I didn't know you liked oranges, Anna-chan." He told her, not believing it himself.

Anna had the spoon in her mouth, she looked at him and blinked, then she nodded and took the spoon out. "Hai. My Onichan kinda made me like them."

"How did he do that?" Yoh asked. He tried hard to make Anna like oranges, but never succeeded. He wondered why that was.

She gave a sort of secretive grin, throwing away her empty cup and spoon in a nearby trashcan. "I'll show you one day." She answered, that grin still on her face.

Yoh frowned and tucked his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "You keep too many secrets." He protested.

She didn't answer, instead she looked ahead at the road they walked on, it wasn't until they arrived downtown, that she asked him something. "Yoh-kun…"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you want to know why I want a son?" she asked, her gaze now on his serious face. He took a few more steps before answering her in a honest tone.

"Because Anna said the same thing to me before we…"

"Fornicated?" she suggested, raising her both her brows at him.

"What?" Yoh blurted out, looking at the girl in absolute confusion.

"Fornicated, it means you made love before marriage." The small girl replied, walking with her hands behind her back. "It's a harsh word, but it's what you two did." She casually explained.

"But we're engaged so…"

The blonde shrugged. "Maybe there's a way around that if you're engaged, I don't know. I'm only seven."

Yoh smiled at that. No matter what age she was, Anna was always mature for her age, or at least, too serious for her age. He found it pretty funny that she was using her age as an excuse for something she doesn't know.

"Yoh-kun, when she told you she was pregnant what did _you_ want her to have?" she asked him, curious to get inside his head.

Yoh looked at the ground as they walked, watching his feet step over each rock. "I didn't have time to think about it." He replied softly "By the time I found out, she already gave birth to Hana."

He watched her expressions from the corner of his eye. First her eye brows shot up in surprise, the they lowered in thought, finally her head gave a small nod, her expression was now one of understanding. So much understanding that it seemed impossible to see one on a girl her age, yet here she was with that expression planted across her features.

"She was scared." She said, earning a look of astonishment from Yoh. She turned to look at him, there eyes locking. Yoh noticed there was a sort of fire in her eye, the kind he saw in Hao's eye when he would try to read his mind. Yoh now understood. The girl was trying to enter Anna's mind through his memories of her.

"She was scared you would die." She dully said, her eyes lost in Yoh's head, searching for more. "That you would die because you would about her and the lid too much. Because that is your nature, you can't see people in pain without doing something about it…urg!" she grabbed her head and scrunched down in a ball.

"Anna-chan?! Are you okay?! What's wrong?!" Yoh yelled kneeling down beside her as she twitched in pain. She stayed like that for a while with her head buried in her hands, trying to endure the pain that she could never get use to.

Then it stopped.

"Anna-chan?" the boy asked. The girl lifted her head off her head and looked at him with eyes of pain. Yoh just waited, waited until she seemed able enough to say something. Finally she lifted her head and tried to get up.

"Gomen." She weakly said. "I should know better than to _try_ to read minds when it hurts me."

"Its fine, really." Yoh said, trying to comfort the small child. He saw how she had trouble getting up and turned his back to her. "Here, get on." He kindly ordered. The girl obeyed, she placed her small hands on his shoulders and pushed herself on his back.

Yoh carefully pushed himself up on his feet, carrying the small girl on his back; she didn't weigh much, so it was pretty easy to walk with her on his back. "You okay back there?" he asked over his shoulder. He felt her squirm a little before answering. "Hai. I'm just a little dizzy." She responded.

"Maybe you missed your nap time?" Yoh jokily suggested. Anna pushed herself higher on his back, bringing her head on top of his shoulder; out of the side of his eye he saw her lips press together into a thin line.

"I'm seven not five." She said, a bit annoyed but yet trying hard not to smile. Yoh just gave his grin and immediately her frown faded.

She rested her head on his shoulder and kept it there, her head turned so she could see his face better. She eyed him; his smooth face was always planted with a smile or a grin on his lips, his chocolate eyes were always soft and full of warm kindness, and the long strands of his brown hair under his orange headphones reflected the shine of the now orange sun.

Orange sun? She lifted her head, how long have they've been wandering around Machiosore? The sun was slowly disappearing behind Mt. Osore, the colors of the sky were no longer shades of blue but shades of red and yellow.

"Anna-chan?" Yoh asked, wondering why Anna was squirming on his back again. He saw her as she pushed herself off his back and landed on her feet.

"I'm late for my class placement exam!" she shouted out, her eyes huge and full of panic; Yoh felt her tug at his hand and pull him forward, they were now running at an amazing speed, so fast that Yoh could barely see the trees and stores they passed as they ran. Who knows how long they'd been running when they finally came to a stop to catch their breath.

When Yoh looked up he felt his eye grow ten times normal size. The building they were at was impossibly huge, Yoh had never seen a school so large. Its structures seemed as if they were made of blue-green marble over smooth bricks which seemed unnoticeable to the naked eye. But what surprised Yoh most of the place was that its windows were so big that the hallways were almost viewable from the outside.

"Wow." He awed. "It's huge!"

Beside him, Anna nodded while she pushed Yoh through the school gates and past the double door entering the halls of the enormous school. Yoh was still amazed as he walked down the school's hall with Anna pushing him forward.

"Onichan's going to kill me." The small girl muttered under her breath.

Yoh noticed her breathing was a bit uneven; he turned around, picked her up and placed her on his shoulders. She blinked and Yoh laughed. "I think your invisible, Anna-chan, I'm sure no one has the ability to do anything to Yoh." He told her.

He began to run, jogging with the small girl on his back. He didn't have to run much, he could hear the thoughts of people coming from a hallway to his right; Anna got off and went to the first door to her left when they got to the hallway.

Yoh watched her go inside; he closed the door behind her and then pressed his ear against the wall, both curious and eager to listen.

**YOH'S P.O.V.**

As soon as I pressed my ear against the cold wall I found myself inside Anna-chan's head on the other side of the wall. I could see and hear everything she did; to me it felt like a natural thing, as if I had done it all my life. Maybe it ad something to do with me being part of Hao, I don't know, I was more concentrated on making sure Anna-chan wouldn't have another one of her "headaches".

_Through her thoughts I saw a man sitting at a desk reading a newspaper. The scene began to move so I'm guessing she was walking up to the front desk, her soft ringing voice taking over the room. "Ano…sumimasen?" _

_The man laid his paper and looked at Anna-chan, his eyes widening at the sight of her. I heard him swallow and his heart seemed to accelerate as Anna-chan approached him._

I could instantly tell that he was attracted to Anna-chan. But honestly, who wasn't? I remember my face was exactly like his, eyes wide, pink cheeks, a look of awe. Even as a seven year old Anna is every aspect of perfection, and though in my time I saw her every day my heart still tried to pump its way out of my chest.

*sigh~* how I miss her…

But this, this was wrong. This guy was a man no less than his mid-30's, and he was attracted to a seven year old……it disturbed me.

"_What can I do for you, beautiful?" the man asked, his sharp eyes ran up and down Anna-chan's tiny body._

How can she stand there perfectly calm when this man is eyeing her that way? She must know what he's thinking at the moment, yet she stands there as if she didn't hear any of his thoughts. I felt like going in there and just pull her out, but I knew better.

"Everything will work out in the end." I told myself, knowing that that usually calmed me. I took deep breathes and pressed my ear against the wall once more.

"_I'm here to take my class placement exam." She began in her childish voice._

_I saw the man's face change from anticipation and astonishment to understanding. "You one of those home schooled kids trying to enter the school?"_

"_Hai."_

It never occurred to me that Anna was ever home schooled, not counting her training with grandma of course, but I always thought she went to school. But if she worries about her headaches why enroll her in school…?

"_Ah, I don't know what to tell you kid…the exams already started and there is only 25 minutes left of the exams…" the man said apologetic, leaning back against his chair._

'_As long as she doesn't smile I'm sure I won't give in to a seven year old so easily'_ I hear him think.

There was a mirror behind him, it almost covered the whole wall, so I could see Anna-chan's expressions and movements pretty well.

_She gave him a smile, exactly what he was praying she wouldn't do. "Then aren't I wasting my testing time talking to you?" she said curtly._

_The man's breathing stuttered at her smile, and his thoughts all gave in. "Tell you what I'll do. I'll give the teacher in the testing room a call and describe you to him. Let him make the decision."_

What would describing her to the teacher do? I mean I'm sure there were lots of small long haired, brown eyed, seven year old blonde's in this place. Right? Though something was still troubling me about Anna-chan enrolling herself in school…who put her up to it? Her mom, brother…dad?

_The guy was already at the phone, dialing a few numbers that Anna-chan easily remembered in her head after one glance._

I decided I would switch heads for a bit, so I lowered 'my ability' over to the man instead of Anna-chan.

'_This better be an emergency.'_ I heard faintly from the other end of the line.

"_Well there's this girl who came take the exam…"_

'_I fail to see the emergency in that. Testing is almost over and-'_

"_You think I don't know that? Look she just doesn't look like any other kid that's come to take it so I thought-"_

'_What does she look like?'_

"_Well…" _ I saw his eyes drift toward the mirror in front of him, he looked at Anna-chan trying to find a word to describe her; Anna-chan seemed as if she didn't feel his gaze or hear the conversation. But I knew better, Anna (seven years old or not) knew everything. _"Well, she looks like a child model! That's what she looks like!" _Anna-chan smiled. _"She can't be any more than seven, flawless and peachy skin, long golden hair down past her waist, chocolate brown eyes—sound familiar?"_

The way he described her so well made me feel as if he had been looking at her up and down without stop.

'_What's her name?' _The teacher on the other end of the phone asked, his tone sounded curious. Did the description ring a bell?

"_What's your name kid?" the man asked Anna-chan, who blinked as if she had been dozing off. She gave him her name and went back to looking at the tiles on the ground. "Kyoyama. Does that help?" he asked into the receiver._

For a moment I heard nothing from the other end of the phone, dead silence. I saw Anna-chan frown in the mirror, she noticed it too. Then I heard faint shouting on the other end of the phone, and a new voice, childish and female, was heard on the other end of the line.

'_Listen here,' _the new voice said '_try to control yourself for a moment, clear your mind and try to look at the girl without her noticing.'_

_The man did as he was told, looking at Anna-chan through the mirror as the voice kept on talking. 'Does the girl have an unbelievably mature expression?'_

"_Hai, but what's-"_

'_Now this is important. Look at that girl's eyes; do you see sort of a fiery flame in them? As if she's doing something you can't see?'_

_The man squinted at Anna-chan's reflection. "Hai."_

'_AND she's indescribably gorgeous?'_

"_I said that didn't I?"_

These are one of the moments that I am usually lost at. Why was this person asking so many questions? Did she somehow know about Anna-chan? I gritted my teeth. I had a real bad feeling, that same feeling I felt last night before Shio Yui's death. I knew something was wrong.

"Why is your head against the wall?"

I flinched. Anna-chan appeared beside me, looking at me in confusion. When did she leave the room? While I was pondering my thoughts? She just stood there waiting for an answer, and I just shrugged, a bit…thankful that only at certain times could she read my mind. "I fell asleep against the wall." I lied.

She seemed to take in that answer, because she gave off a smile, then turned around. "I'm going to take my exam." She told me, her voice struggling not to laugh at my laziness.

I blinked. She was planning on taking an exam with only 20 minutes left? For a second I was about to tell her that was a bit crazy, but then I stopped. I knew for a fact that the Shaman Queen is meant to have multiple gifts, Cadm told me last night while I was trying to get over the whole Anna's-first-oni-killing-Shio-Yui thing.

Could intelligence be another gift too? I used to use the power of spirits to get high marks on test, while Anna would get high marks without ever using any spirit. It would really explain how my Anna knew almost everything.

Anna-chan looked over her shoulder at me, I grinned at her and felt her tiny warm hand slip into mine again, pulling me over to the door where she was supposed to take her exam.

"Wait for me here." She ordered. Then a smile crept up her childish face, "And don't fall asleep against the wall."

I laughed. "Hai."

She went into the room and through the large window the room had I saw her walk over to the teacher and she instantly began explaining why she arrived late.

I watched, not bothering to read anyone's mind, I thought I had enough mind reading for one day…

"Ano…sumimasen?" I heard a voice call out.

My head turned to my left. A woman, mid-20's maybe, stood there. She had long, and I mean LONG, light blonde hair that came to her knees, but it was tied in a loose side braid. Her eyes were green and full of kindness and warmth, her skin was pale yet she _looked_ healthy. She had on a white turtle neck dress under a long, pinkish, pea coat.

I blinked. "Ah…hai?" I responded, probably sounding stupid. But it surprised me that this lady could see me, wasn't it that normal people couldn't see me unless I was with Anna-chan or they had something to do with Anna's reason for a closed heart?

…oh. This woman could have done something to bring out Anna's façade, what was her relationship with Anna?

"Is this the class placement exam room?" she kindly asked me, a soft smile on her face.

"Hai. You have a family member in there?" I casually asked. I really wanted to know this woman's connection to Anna, though she looked as innocent as a newborn.

"Yes I do," she said smiling, tilting her head slightly to the left. "My daughter is in…there." She looked through the window and her gaze fell on Anna-chan at the front desk. "Oh dear," she whispered to herself, bringing her hand up to her mouth. "Did she arrive late?"

I think that lately I've blinking in confusion too much, but I can't help it. I find myself in lots of confusing things. The woman turned to look at me, her green eyes seemed to move to my headphones, raising a brow at them.

'_Orange headphones?...'_ "Oh!" she gasped. I'm thinking she must have realized something that I missed. "You must be Yoh-san!" she said, saying my name as if she had known me my whole life.

"Hai," I said waving a hand happily up in front of me. "Asakura Yoh, nice to meet you." Even though she was a stranger, I always found out it is easier to be friends with strangers rather than enemies.

She gave a soft smile and slightly bowed forward. "I'm Kyoyama Akiko, nice to meet you."

Kyoyama…then this woman was Anna's foster mother. The one who, along with her father, abandoned her? I felt a lump form in my throat, and I tried hard to make it go away…it didn't work.

"You're……Anna-chan's mother?" I asked hoarsely, trying to hide the pain in my voice as I said those words.

'_Foster mother'_ I heard her sadly correct in her head. There was a glimpse of pain in her face, but it immediately disappeared and was replaced by a smile. "Hai, I'm Anna's mother."

Ah, that's right, Anna's real mother died after giving birth to her. Then her aunt had to decide between leaving her on Mu where Hao could easily find her or had her over to humans where Hao would never think she would be…

And Akiko-san must've been the one who found her…

"Did she just arrive?" she asked me, her green eyes full of worry. I can't blame her; it's a real problem when a student comes late for an exam, for everybody, not just the student.

"Hai," I said apologetic, scratching the back off my head. I have a habit of doing that when I'm about to apologize or about to do something I know was foolish. "Gomen, we kind of lost track of time…"

Akiko-san shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'm just glad she was enjoying herself with a friend." _'Seeing that she had no friends, besides Cadm-san, a few days ago'_ "I'm just worried about her taking the test in 15 minutes."

"Everything will work out in the end." I told her in my carefree mood. I grinned and she smiled back. She didn't seem to be the type of person who would abandon a child; I wonder what happened at that time…?

**NORMAL P.O.V.**

"Come on Edward, don't be an arse!" a heard a voice call out not to far from Yoh. "Just for a few days maybe. I won't do anything bad to her…"

Edward and Misaka were walking down the hall, a boy with wild unruly orange hair was chasing them, pleading something that Edward didn't seem to happy about.

"No." Edward strictly said. "It's disgusting and illegal. You'll end up in jail."

The orange haired boy decided to make Edward see it from his point of view "If that happens, then I just show her to the police and they'll see my point."

"I already told you no!" the blonde shouted, irritated enough.

Yoh watched as the orange haired boy hung his head and left, walking back in the opposite direction from which he came.

Misaka and Edward kept walking until Edward spotted Yoh; he stopped dead in his tracks and glared hard at the brunette. "What are you doing here, Cadm's relative?" he asked, his tone sounding quite menacing.

Yoh opened his mouth ready to give the explanation once again, until Akiko interrupted. "Edward, what kind of tone are you using with people? You should know better." She said to the blonde, her tone disappointed.

Edward lowered his head. "Gomen, mum." He apologized through his gritted teeth.

It took about ten seconds before those words sank into the brunette, his eyes growing wide in exclamation of the fact he just heard. "_YOU'RE_ ANNA'S BROTHER?!" he shouted out, his headphones falling off his head.

Misaka began to giggle, as so did Akiko, Edward just shook his head. "Dimwit." He accused under his breathe.

Yoh sheepishly laughed, he scratched his head and bent over to pick up his headphones, dusting them off with one hand. "Gomen, I just didn't think _you_ were her brother."

"What did you think I was then?"

"Probably another of Kyoyama-san's admires." Misaka muttered under her breath.

"Another one of who's admires?" a ringing voice asked curiously. Anna had just come out the door, a secretive smirk planted across her face. "Hey mum." She greeted Akiko.

Yoh had his eyes wide as he looked at the small blonde. "Y-you finished your exam?" he asked. Anna gave a smile and nodded. "Hai, I did right in front of that sensei's face so he wouldn't think I cheated."

Akiko looked at her daughter in disbelief; she knelt down and raised a brow. "But…that was ten minutes, Anna." She pointed out to her small daughter.

"Indeed it was." A voice said from the door. A man in a black tux stood there, his face absolutely serious and scared. "I just checked your answers Miss Kyoyama, you seemed to have aced every question." He informed her. His tone sounded as if he was accusing the small blonde rather than congratulating her.

Anna looked at her mother's worried face and took a step back to Yoh's side wrapping her small arms around him the best she could. "They were easy questions…" she told them, trying to hide herself from their thoughts of disapproval.

Edward narrowed his eyes at his sister. "Those questions were all the way to college level." He informed her. Anna buried her face in Yoh's jacket, her brother had that face, the one that showed he knew she wasn't normal, she didn't like it one bit; Yoh bent down and patted her head.

"Indeed they were." Sensei sighed. Here, standing in front of him, was a child genius who had appeared out of nowhere. Okay, maybe not nowhere, but her previous residence was unknown. Sensei knew that he should expect great things from the girl...whatever "great" meant, but yet he had his doubts about the girl.

The teacher cleared his voice. "Even though I saw you take it with my own eyes, Miss Kyoyama, I still cannot face myself to believe that all you did was flip through all the questions and just solved them all in ten minutes."

"I believe her." Yoh admitted, earning gazes from all of them, including Anna. He just smiled at them and kept patting Anna's blond hair. "You should know by now…Anna-chan has her talents."

Akiko smiled. "True." She said kindly.

Sensei continued talking after Yoh's brief interruption.

"Well, if those are your scores then I don't know where to place you because, based on your test a result, your…skill is beyond any college student." He paused and continued. "Basically, you don't even have to attend any school at all."

Anna's eyes grew she pushed herself out of Yoh's arms and stood in front of Sensei "But I _want _to go to school!" she shouted in a childish wine. "If I didn't then I could've just not taken the exam! But I really, really, want to go!"

Yoh's eyes widened and his head jerked down to look at the small girl in horror. Anna-chan _wanted_ to go to school? Why on earth would anyone want to go to school?

The sensei seemed equally surprised, yet all he did was straighten his face, and clear his throat. "Well…if that's the case…I suppose I could enter you in with the high schoolers…"

Yoh heard Anna's brother groan in protest. _'I'll have to keep an eye on her if he does that! All those low life perverts actually wanting her…' _Yoh shuddered as he heard Edward's thoughts come into his head.

The sensei gave a sigh and walked right back in to the exam room. _'All those high schoolers in there taking the exam and a SEVEN year old turned out to be the genius! Well there's also that little orange-haired girl…'_

When the Sensei left out of their sight Akiko let out a sigh and looked out the window. "Oh, dear. It looks like rain." She said pointing to the dark clouds outside that dropped droplets of water from them. She turned her gaze to Yoh. "Yoh-san where do you live?" she asked concerned for the boy's way back home.

Yoh realized why she was asking him that. It didn't look like it was going to rain very lightly, it look more like a thunder storm outside. "Ano…all the way on the other side of town." He responded.

Akiko's lips formed themselves into a straight line. "Ah~ I feel bad." She said, lowering her head. "It's because you were bringing Anna here that you cannot go home so easily."

Yoh placed his hands in front of him. "No, its not that! I decided to come and bring Anna-chan-"

Akiko clapped her hands once together. "I know! You may spend the night at our place for tonight! We have plenty of extra rooms!"

"Plenty is an understatement." Edward muttered under his breath. "It's more like too many extra rooms."

Anna looked up and smiled at Yoh, her smile was contagious because as soon as Yoh looked down, an involuntary sheepish grin spread across his face.

She grabbed his big hand and pulled him along with the rest of them. Yoh followed only because he remembered the reason he was here, he was here because he wanted to know why Anna had ever shut her heart out to others, and he had to go to one of the sources he knew…Kyoyama Akiko.

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"This was the training you had to do with Ashcroft?" Macchi asked looking at the extremely dazzling and illuminatingly clean spa room.

They submersed themselves under the warm water, letting all the troubles sink down into the water. Kanna snorted. "Have you seen how disgusting this place was? Besides I didn't want to be down there with that damn Maiden's mother."

"Mari thinks Kanna was trying to let her anger out by cleaning." Mari dully said, her tiny pale jaw under the water, blowing small bubbles with her lips.

Kanna closed her eyes and laid her head back, frowning. "That could be it too I guess…" she admitted.

Macchi raised a brow as she wrapped the towel around her short coral hair to keep it from getting wet. "Why do _you_ seem so mad? I thought Mari was the one who had mood swings."

"Mari does not." The blonde protested, her green eye dully looking at the sparkling blue water in which her body was submerged in.

There was a small pause as Hanaguimi stayed hushed, each one lost in their own memories of why they were angry/sad/scared, the thoughts that haunted them until their precious Lord Hao had gone and saved them from those wretched lies and harsh hate that took over the each of them.

"You know what seems to piss me off the most?" Kanna asked her two teammates.

Matilda and Marion both raised their heads to look at her, both eyes curious and willing to hear their friend out. Because Hanagumi all shared the same dream, the same wishes, the same…feelings.

"The fact that we are so easy to read." She finished, letting the younger shamans to think about the meaning behind those nine little words.

Easy to read. Everyone can see right through them; noticing that at times…they were in pain, they were lost, they were hurt, killed, destroyed, and because of it they developed hatred against all the kinds of simple-minded humans that destroyed them.

"Mari…does not like the fact that people know what Mari fears." She said grabbing her legs and pulling them close to her under the water.

"I don't see it that way." Macchi softly piped up, her eyes full of tiny tears that dropped into the water with a tiny splash. "I always believed that my memories…are the pain that made me start to bloom…that's why I was able to say it to Tao Jun and the others…the pain is still in us so if we don't open up…how will we, as Hanagumi, ever bloom?"

"We don't." Kanna protested. "Adding on to your metaphor, Matti, we are dying flowers with no hope of ever blooming."

"Mari…does not want to be a flower." The blonde girl frowned in disagreement.

"Well get over it. Hanagumi is the name Hao-sama gave us and we will respect it! We are The Flowers and I will die with that name if it means giving respect to the one who saved us from our hellish life!!!!" the blue haired leader ordered, standing up and stomping her foot down hardly.

Marion flinched at Kanna's tone of voice, her green eyes widening so much that you could get lost in them thinking they were a large forest of trees. Matilda sank her head into the water, only allowing her carrot colored hair to be above it.

Kanna sat back down into the hot spring, allowing another silence to take up the room. None of them had said a thing; their loyalty to Hao-sama was thin. After he tried to devour their souls they've been wondering who to trust in such a cruel and cold world. They came up with nothing.

Macchi sighed and rose her head up from underneath the burning hot water. "I wish Ren-kun were here…" she sighed, not noticing that she had just said her thoughts out loud. She turned to her teammates who had a look of suspicion on their pink faces.

"What?" she said with her British accent wondering why in the world they were looking at her like that.

"Mari thinks Matilda is getting close to that Tao Ren_ boy_." Mari informed showing a sigh of fear at the word 'boy'.

Matilda's face was pink, though her teammates could not tell of it was because she was blushing or it was because of the heat of the spa. "Hey Marion how were Horohoro's boxers?" The peach hair girl teased the blonde, getting the subject off of her.

Mari's face grew red as she remembered the scene with the cat. "Mari does not like boxers! Mari does not like boxers!" she yelled, dipping her face harshly into the waters. Macchi just laugh. "How many times is that, Marion? Or did you see something else when the cat ripped his pants off-"

"Stai zitto! Mari thinks Matilda should stai zitto!" the blonde ordered, her green eyes burning in total rage, contrasting with her flushed face. She grabbed Chuck who was laying on the floor behind them and aimed it at Macchi, who was still laughing her pigtails off. Marion glared at her "STAI ZI-"

"BOTH OF YOU HALT DEN MUND!" the bluenette yelled in German, ordering the two girls to shut up. She was now pissed off more than before.

The two younger flowers sighed and sat back down. One of the little things they were taught was to fight, never to stop and think of why they were this way, but yet that is what they did.

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****

_Yoh walked around his new home in his yukata, eying the place as he walked down the large halls, the place Anna had bought for their stay in America was similar to the one back on Funbari hill. "Why do we even need a house so big?" the brunette asked himself out loud. He sighed._

_Anna, Tamao, and Manta had all come to America to support him, they had gotten the location of the Patch village through a senior Itako in Los Angeles had been investigating it and sent all the information to Anna._

_Yoh smiled to himself and sat down on the porch of the big house. He looked up at the stars, he wasn't expecting Anna to come all the way there; he was sweating like crazy when he heard her commanding voice back at the village. And when he yelled at her saying she was paying way too little for a pure silver Patch key holder he swore he saw cherry blossoms blow through the wind around the both of them._

_Not to mention his friends were stunned when he agreed to her training him. He couldn't help it though it was the way she said those words._

'_At any rate I'm worried about you getting weak. No one else will do anything about it, so I'm not going to let it happen.'_

_Did those words have a secret meaning? He sighed. Anna was so hard to understand._

"_Why are you out here in the cold? In a yukata out of all things." That ringing voice asked behind him._

_He didn't have to but yet the brunette turned his head face the gorgeous blond itako that watched him with her chocolate eyes._

"_I was thinking…" Yoh responded, purposely trailing off so he would have to tell Anna what he was thinking._

"_About the fight with that stubborn Maiden?" she asked sitting down beside him, their bodies only inches away._

_Yoh sighed. "Now that you mention it…even though she acted so kind and innocent when she asked me to join those X-Laws…The Maiden is…"_

"_If you say cute I'll slap you with my left hand." Anna threatened menacingly making Yoh shiver in his spot. "I'd though you wouldn't go so low as to liking another girl because you almost saw her chest." She uncomfortably mumbled, shifting her weight around to find herself cozier._

_Yoh slammed his hands on each side of the ground beside her and shifted forward, their faces only centimeters apart. "I didn't look at it, Anna! Okay maybe a glimpse when she got out of the Iron Maiden—but it wasn't on purpose I swear!" he sputtered out in worry that Anna thought he would look at other girls when he had her._

_Anna's face was grim. "So you did see it. Oh I'm sure you enjoyed looking at another girl's chest, didn't you?" she said raising an angry brow at her husband._

_Yoh huffed. "I'm trying to tell you that I didn't! Anna the only chest I enjoyed seeing was you-" he stopped in mid-word, his face turning blood red. Anna just stared at him, both shocked and stunned from his words, a soft pink glow across her soft peachy features._

"_Okay," she muttered, biting her lower lip and looking away from Yoh's flushed face. "How very…flattering."_

_Yoh pushed himself away from her and hung his head in the spot he was before. "Gomen~. I didn't mean to…"_

_Anna smiled, "You're too gullible, Yoh."-Yoh laughed at that- "So what are you planning on doing with that Lyserg kid? Are you really going to do nothing about it?"_

_Yoh's smile collapsed, instantly turning into a thin line, he looked up at the millions of stars in the sky, eying the small illumination they gave off to the night. "I am going to do something about it."_

"_Besides becoming Shaman King, Yoh. You're already going to win the tournament-"_

"_Are you sure? What about what Chocolove said about the three God-class shaman groups?" he asked._

_Anna didn't answer. Instead she found it ore comforting to look up at the stars, the same as Yoh. Yoh knew he wouldn't get an answer, it didn't matter to Anna if there were three powerful groups in the shaman fight, Anna…always believed in him. Yet there had been something that has always bothered him._

"_Anna, would…would it be easier for you if I…dropped out of the Shaman Fight?"_

_Anna jerked her head in his direction, her eyes humongously wide in shock. "Iie." She ordered him "You're not going to drop out whatsoever."_

"_Only to make it easier for you, Anna. You seem in a really bad mood and-"_

_She cut him off. "How would that make it easier for me, Yoh?"-She lowered her head and, to Yoh's surprise, she rested it on his arm- "If you drop out…then I can't be your wife." –Yoh jerked his head down to look at her- "Kino will immediately break the engagement and…" –Her lower lip trembled- "and then it would all be for nothing."_

_Yoh thought about that. He knew exactly what Anna meant by 'then it would all be for nothing'. Every touch, every kiss, everything they did that day before he left…he would've taken Anna's virginity for nothing. He looked at Anna thoughtfully for a while before his fingers threaded through her hair. She turned to him quizzingly, a look of confusion on her face._

"_Yoh?..."_

_Yoh brought her into his arms, causing faint pink flushes on both their faces. To hide his embarrassment he buried his face in her hair, taking in the smell of her sweet shampoo, and began talking under the cascade of sunlight that was Anna's hair. "We could always…run away together. Like I told you five years ago. I won't be breaking my promise because I leave the choice to you."_

"_Idiot," she hoarsely mumbled into his chest "I can't do that to Kino and the Asakuras…I owe them my life. You will become the Shaman King, Yoh…you're not the only one who needs that world you want to make."_

_There was a long, dead silence as they both stayed in each other's arms, hugging the other close to each other and not wanting to let go._

"_What are you thinking about?" Yoh softly asked the perfect definition of beauty which he held in his arms._

_Anna glanced upwards at him, and gave a gentle shrug. "You."_

"_Me?" he asked, looking and feeling very much surprised._

"_Yes." Then she frowned at his previous response. "Why?" she asked. "Is it that strange for you to know that I'm thinking about you?"_

"_N-no," he stammered. "I just…" he trailed off. "Do you think of me a lot?" he asked curiously. _

"_Hai." She seriously responded. "You don't think I'm so heartless that I don't think of you, do you?" She glared up at him, raising a brow in the process._

_Yoh grinned. "Iie, I can hear the beat of your heart pounding against my chest."_

_Anna blushed and pushed her body away from him, placing a hand over her chest, clutching it tightly. Yoh's face fell into a small frown. "Anna." The blonde itako stood to her feet and turned her head away from her fiancé's gaze._

"_It's best to go to bed now, Yoh." She quickly said before he could open his mouth for any questions. "We never know you might have another fight tomorrow and you're required to sleep."_

"_Will you sleep with me?" Yoh casually asked, no secretive intentions in his voice. Yet that didn't seem to stop Anna from turning three different shades of red until Yoh noticed that she had misunderstood him._

"_Ah! No, not like that Anna! Really! –Not that I wouldn't mind it aga—Ah! No, I just meant…" He shouted out, his face bloodshot red as he let out all of his breath and banged his head with his fist._

_Anna suddenly relaxed, she couldn't help but smile at him, she leaned down and grabbed his hand pulling him up along with her, "No funny business, Yoh." She strictly ordered "It's ONLY sleep tonight, okay?"_

"_Hai." Yoh cheerfully agreed, a wide grin across his face as he and Anna walked to his room to sleep, to just fell the day end in each others arms, sleeping and dreaming of the one thing they loved…each other._

*****

Yoh opened his eyes and found himself in a very unfamiliar room, he sat up and eyed the space with drowsy eyes, then he remembered. He was in the Kyoyama residence. He had spent the night there because Cadm's house was too far away from the school, not to mention it began to thunderstorm.

He got up off the futon which he was sleeping in, throwing back the covers and jumping to his feet, then he left the borrowed room and decided to hang around the living room downstairs. He went down the steps and threw himself on top of the couch with a big sigh.

The Kyoyama residence was huge, almost as huge as his Grandparents' house; Yoh wondered why Anna always seemed to have a thing for big houses. _'Hmm'_ he thought.

He couldn't even think about sleep at the moment, every time he would close his eyes he always had a flash back of him and Anna. "Ah~, this is getting troublesome." He sighed softly, hanging his head.

At the moment, he wished Anna were with him, he didn't really like to be away from her, even if it's been only 3-4 days.

"Trouble sleeping." A female voice asked from the stairway.

Yoh turned to view the voice and saw Akiko standing at the stairway. Her clothes were the same as when they left the school, so she must've not been sleeping before.

He saw her walk over to the living room area and sit on the couch across from his, looking at him with worried eyes.

"Was the futon not to your liking, Yoh-san?" she asked worriedly.

Yoh shook his head and grinned. "No, it's not that…ano…I just can't sleep that well—lately I mean."

"Something on your mind?"

Could he tell her? Would it affect anything if he told her? That his mind was on his 15 year old who had his child? He did wish he could talk to someone besides Anna-chan about Anna. But yet…it would be best to keep quiet…

"Ah, you're thinking of your wife…?" she then said, turning the small statement into a question.

Yoh looked at her, stunned, this woman…does she…have some sort of shamanic power? It wouldn't make any sense at all! But then how…

He saw her smile, a soft, motherly smile. He placed her hands on her lap and slightly chuckled. "Gomen," she apologized cupping her lips with her hand to keep from bursting out in laughter at Yoh's expression, "but it's just…Anna said you blush every time you think of your wife so I guessed you were."

Yoh blinked. He was blushing? He didn't realize he was. He just scratched his head and let out a small laugh. "Ah, so that's how you knew…" he sheepishly responded to her.

She gave a soft nod, that motherly smile still across her young looking face. Yoh was amazed on how young Akiko looked. She didn't look anymore than her early 20s! Yet she had kids. Yoh knew she was not Anna's real mother, Anna's real mother, Asana, died a bit after giving birth to Anna. It was all the stress of Hao appearing and torturing the Patch until he knew enough about Anna that killed Anna's mother.

"Do you wish to talk about what is keeping you up?" the young blonde asked him.

Well it couldn't hurt could it? I mean she was once a part of Anna's life. "It's just that…well, I miss my wife." He said, hesitating to say the words. He didn't hesitated for any reason other than embarrassment, even though he loved her greatly, Yoh found it hard to tell other people of his love for the Queen.

"Believe it or not, but that's actually very common between couples." She replied, her tone cheerful yet understanding.

Yoh just smiled at her answer. "Is it really? I never knew." He lied. In fact he did know, he knew from Faust and Eliza and many others he'd seen, yet he and Anna somehow felt different.

"You really love her?" Akiko asked. She felt this was the most important question to ask young love. This boy was married and had a kid, he seemed like one of the kindest boys she ever met, yet did he love the girl?

"Hai. I do." A blush forming once more across his smiling cheeks.

Now came the second most important question she could ask him. "Why?"

Why? Yoh had honestly never thought of that in all those five years he's known Anna. Why did he love Anna? No…why was he asking himself this?

He loved her because she loved him.

People always thought that he was lazy, strange, a fool, and many other things. Anna loved him because he was all those things. And he loved her because she was the first _person _to show her love for him. And she said it with such honesty and ease.

'_I have begun to love this man.'_

He didn't know why but at the first sight he had of her, he felt it. It was a shock of warmth, but it wasn't warmth he had ever felt. It was a burning fire that raged inside of him, electricity that burned through his body, a pumping heart that accelerated so abnormally.

Her cold façade hardly frightened him anymore; it only gave him determination saying _this is what I fight for._ He fought for her.

He opened his mouth and let his explanation flow with the thoughts that came from his heart.

"Honestly…I don't know how to answer that."

Akiko raised a brow, Yoh went on.

"The first thing that enters my mind when I wake up is Anna. The last thing on my mind before I close my eyes at night is her. It's all about her. I seriously didn't know what to do. I think of Anna everywhere I go. At the time, it didn't help that we lived together. She always wanted something special, but she ended up with me. Our marriage may have been just an arrangement but I always thought it was fate that pulled us together." –he hung his head, so Akiko would not see his crimsoned face—"It's always been only Anna I had eyes for. No one else could make me smile the way she did. Life seemed so much better with her around. I greet each day with a smile because I know I will see her. I bid each day good bye with a smile because I saw. I couldn't be happier because I know that she'll always be at the end of something. There's really nothing that I wouldn't do for her…"

Akiko smiled once more, her green eyes shining with the moonlight that came from the window behind Yoh. "That's a good answer." Her smile brightened "I think the love you have for your wife is great!"

Yoh looked up from the ground, his face now a light shade of pink, his famous grin was on that pink face, shining along with the many things that illuminated the night.

Akiko closed her eyes and smiled, "I hope one day my little Anna will find someone as well…" she trailed off, lost in her own tiny thoughts.

Yoh couldn't help but to ask a question he had been dying to know since he'd been walking with Anna-chan this morning. "Kyoyama-san…"

"Hai?"

"Why does Anna-chan want a son?"

Silence. A dead, wiggle-in-you-seat uncomfortable, silence. For a moment Yoh thought he wasn't going to receive an answer until he heard the green-eyed blonde sigh.

"She told me about that once too…*sigh*. Anna…believes that no man will ever love her." She began, looking down at her hands.

Yoh interrupted, completely confused by the woman's words. "But there are tons of guys who-"

"Who only find her attractive." Akiko pointed out; Yoh nodded, this much he understood. "She somehow believes she's different, and that for that reason people will move away from her, so she'll take _any_ opportunity to get married. Even-"

"An arranged marriage…" Yoh finished, nodding in understanding. Akiko went on.

"Hai…sons…usually end up looking like their fathers, so she says that she wishes for a son just incase anything happens between her and her future husband. Anything from divorce, affairs…"

"Death."

'_I want a son.'_

Now it made sense. She didn't want just any son; she wanted _his_ son…because she loved him so much that she wanted a son to remember him by. Someone who looked like him had his smile…everything.

A small smile spread across his illuminated face. "I understand now." He was completely taken in his thoughts that he didn't realize Akiko-san had moved up off the couch in front of him.

"Yoh-san?"

Yoh shook his head. He looked at Akiko-san who was now at the stairway walking up the steep stairs.

Akiko just smiled warmly. "I'll be going to sleep now, please enjoy your stay here." With a small bow she went up the stairs, leaving Yoh alone once again with his thoughts.

And he did the one thing he wished to do at the moment.

Close his eyes and let the memories of him and Anna flow into his subconscious mind…

****

_Yoh woke up and stared at the dark ceiling, his arms behind his head. 'Was it a dream?' he wondered._

_He looked to his side, the spot there was empty, no Anna in sight. He sighed in disappointment, how badly he wanted that dream to be real, to feel Anna like he had and fully be able to call her his._

_But that had only been a dream._

_He sat up and looked to the end of the futon, some clothes were neatly folded there, he slowly picked them up and put them on, still lost, thinking of his dream with a sheepish grin._

_Then he headed out of his room._

_He walked down the hallway and stopped at Anna's room, he felt like knocking and telling her goodbye, but after that dream he had he knew he couldn't look at her without blushing._

_Instead he walked down the stairs._

_The inn was silent, not a soul or spirit spoke._

_He stopped at the living room and looked at the clock, was it really that early he wondered._

_Then he heard almost silent footsteps behind him, soft, almost silent footsteps that echoed its sound through out the silent in. He turned around and saw Anna walking to him in her robe._

_Yoh blushed and looked down at the floor; Anna stopped a few feet away and looked at him. She studied his red face which hung down staring below him, she let out a sigh._

"_Honestly Yoh, I'm not hurt." She said._

_Yoh jerked his head up and stared at her wide-eyed. "So last night really did happen?" He asked himself out loud._

_Anna arched a brow. "What did you think it was, Yoh?"_

_Yoh blushed. "A dream." He said smiling nervously "A really good dream."_

"_Okay." she muttered, coming closer to him. "How very . . . flattering."_

_Yoh turned away from her walking body and looked at the door. Anna stopped and followed his gaze to the door. Yoh saw her face frown. _

"_You…were planning on leaving without saying goodbye to me." She stated, her face in a sad-looking frown._

"_Gomen." He answered, looking back at her._

_She sighed and smiled at him, a soft playful smile._

_She took the few last steps over to him and wrapped her arms around him, Yoh felt his knees go weak and he fell back into a couch behind him._

"_Anna?" he asked surprised by her sudden actions._

_She didn't lift her head off of his chest; she kept it there as Yoh wrapped his strong arms around her body and buried his face in her hair. He loved her. Oh how he loved this woman that at the moment was in his arms, filling him with an embrace that he felt he could be lost in forever._

"_Yoh?"_

"_Mmm?" he muffled in her golden locks._

"_I love you." She told him._

_Before he could reply, Anna got up off of him and made her way out of the living room, leaving Yoh there wit those words echoing in his head._

****

________________________________________________________________________

**WELL READERS THERE YOU ARE, CHAPTER 9! YAY. *JUMPS UP AND DOWN IN JOY***

**SORRY IT TOOK A WHILE, A HAD A BIT OF WRITERS BLOCK… BUT HEY WHO'S COMPLAING? (DON'T ANSWER THAT)**

**WELL THE IDEA OF THIS CHAPTER CAME TO ME FROM **_**Hpcs2 - Suprema Onmyoji Isah**_**, SHE'S THE ONE THAT SAID I DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH YOHxANNA, SO EVERYONE THANK HER.**

**I'M TELLING YOU GUYS, I WRITE WHAT YOU ALL WISH TO READ SO YOU WANT SOMETHING IN THE STORY JUST TELL ME!**

**NOW THE FLASHBACKS ARE PRETTY OBVIOUS (OR TO ME THEY ARE) THE FIRST ONE WAS OF THE NIGHT YOH LEFT TO AMERICA, THE 2****ND**** ONE WAS OF THE FIRST DAY IN THE SHAMAN FIGHT (YOU KNOW TEAM THE Ren FOUGHT THEN X-I AND SO ON) THEN THE LAST ONE WAS OF THE MORNING BEFORE Yoh LEFT TO AMERICA.**

**HOPED YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER! AND IF YOU DIDN'T REMEMBER **_**WRITER'S BLOCK!!!**_

**OKAY PEOPLE, NOW LETS SEE HOW YOU ALL DID WITH MY LITTLE 'GUESSING GAME' ON SORAGUIMI.**

***checks all reviews***

***shakes head***

**IS IT REALLY THAT HARD??? I'M PRETTY SURE I MADE THEM EASY, HMM……**

**WELL CHECK HOW YOU DID AS I WRITE BACK TO YOUR REVIEWS.**

**THANKS TO:**

**KyaKyaNya: **_ yep Annaka wuz pregnant. Dang good math! Yeah she's only 2 weeks pregnant because her and Hao made love the night when Yoh and Anna went to sleep in the Great Spirit. _

**Usui_Pirika~~:**_ Nope no Pirika in the previous chapter, or this one…gomen, for the next one! And as for your guess of Emmetto's power…excellent guess! Emmetto's power does have to do with numbing people's senses!_

**Ja 01'Loving you Always': **_ ah it's really no prob! I like to thank my readers by putting their names at the end of each chapter. ^-^ haha well lets say Annaka and Hao got a bit *cough* busy *cough* after Anna revived her in my previous story. But personally I preffer to leave lime out of stories but it depends on my readers really. As for Nianna…I'll have a spoiler on that at the end of the thank yous. ^-^_

**hannami08: **_Why thank you, I had fun writing that part. Haha ^-^_

**Nightglider-star: **_ah the great Nightglider-star-Senpai! May I say I loved your story, um which one was it…oh yea, NEED. Lovely story. Haha though u seem to appear when a guessing game is involved haha. Well you guess on Soraguimi is……wrong. Gomen but not even close, but hey there is still time to guess. :D_

**Hpcs2 - Suprema Onmyoji Isah: **_Glad to have my biggest fan back!!! I thought you left me for a while…glad I was wrong. Well are you happy with the YohXAnna in this chapter? Yea sorry about all the OC characters but keep in mind, Anna's PAST is unknown to many so NOONE (minus Takei-senpai) knows who was ever in her past, so OC characters are kinda needed in her side of the story… BTW I went to your profile and realize ur Brazilian! I didn't know~! I'm Costa Rican! Do ya speak Spanish too?_

**Boblove: **_yea congrats! Annaka wuz Pregnant. ^-^ surprising twist huh? Well Anna is VERY strong I guess… how else would she score that high? Hahaha. AAAHHHH u guessed right!!!! Arisu does see the future!!!!!!__**(GOMEN FOR THE SPOILER PPL!!) **__but not like Tamao does…Arisu is more special…n u'll see why soon._

**Tsuchi-Saikoro: **_ your guesses are…wrong. Gomen. Still time to guess though. I have a small spoiler for what is going to happen to Nianna, though it's like another guessing game…_

**PinkanAngelTamao: **_yup she wuz pregnant. Haha yea I thought some ppl would find it funny._

**Rosewell: **_Ren seems to like to say what's on his mind. Haha. The powers are more like Hao's Reishi, not elemental powers. Yes your guess on Wilhelmina is correct(the second guess). Congrats! U got the hardest one right!!!! _

**WOW THAT'S A LOT OF REVIEWS! *COUNTS ALL OF THEM* 10 REVIEWS FOR ONE CHAPTER. KEEP IT UP!!!!!!!!**

**WELL NOW IT'S TIME FOR MY LITTLE ****SPOILER**** GUESSING GAMES!!!!**

**SPOILER!!!!!!!!!**

**Okay people this spoiler is on Nianna. You remember tat she's made from four of the five elemental spirits right? And also that she has defects. Well next she's going to receive a 'shock' that will change one of her defects. And it has to do with……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Asakura Hana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Boy will Nagehiko get jealous)**

**HAPPY GUESSING!!!!!!!!!**

**YohAnna4eva/ Crystel Hidalgo**


	10. After The Explaination

**TA-DAH! I'M DONE!**

**WELL? BRING ON THE REVIEWS FOLKS, ^-^.**

**OKAY SO THIS CHAPTER TOOK A WEEK AND TWO DAYS BECAUSE I HAD WRITERS BLOCK, YOU SEE I WAS PLANING ON MAKING Anna APPEAR IN THE**_**NEXT**_**CHAPTER BUT INSTEAD I SAID "NAH."**

**OKAY SO I WOKE UP 5:00 AM TO FINISH IT FOR YOU GUYS AND GET IT UPLOADED. SO REVIEWS ARE IN OBLIGATION HERE HAHA.**

**NOW FOR THE REVIEW THANKINGS!**

**THANKS TO:**

**Ja 01'Loving you Always':**_haha I'm not going to be so cruel to Hao as to make his wife die! Ano, that's would be a bit strange, Nianna ending up in Hao's bed haha._

**Hpcs2 - Suprema Onmyoji Isah:**_that has got to be the longest review I have ever seen, haha! I'm glad you liked it ^-^. Haha ur addicted to my fics._

**Nightglider:**_arigatou gozaimasu._

**Imtheman:**_thank you. I'll try my best_

**KyaKyaNya:**_yea but shes going to have to put up with tons of people dying soon._

**Boblove:**_arigatou gozaimasu._

**Tsuchi-Saikoro:**_good. I wanted most people to understand. Yea but keep trying!_

**PinkanAngelTamao:**_yup they are ^-^_

**Rosewell:**_haha thanks for the love, haha_

**Usui_Pirika~~:**_arigatou_

**PiNwIn0:**_you must've really hated Yui…well more people are dying soon so…_

**DID I MENTION HOW GLAD I AM TO SEE SO MANY REVIEWS? WELL IM VERY VERY HAPPY HAHA.**

**WELL LOOK FORWARD TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

**~~~CrysitaNaima**

* * *

_**History's Flames;**_

* * *

_**A Thousand Paper Cranes Arc;**_

_**Chapter Ten**_

"_Picking up my oracle bell… really did me a big favor." He told the blonde in front of him, stepping closer to where she stood. "I want to thank you Anna."_

_The blonde girl blushed as her fiancée came closer to her, closing the space that was in between them. He stopped to cup her smooth peachy face which was now tinted with a small pink blush on her cheeks._

_Yoh looked at her and smiled, slowly bringing his face to hers, just incase she wished to move out of his grasp._

_But Anna didn't move, she let Yoh guide her face over to his, ignoring the stain of red on each other's face._

_Finally their lips touched, and began to move in perfect synchronization, Anna wrapped her arms around Yoh's neck, while Yoh guided his hands down to her waist, making the kiss deeper._

_Amidamaru looked at them in shock and turned his head away from the two of them. 'No, must not look.'_

_The two of them did not want to let go of another, even as it was getting harder and harder for each other to breath they didn't want to part their lips away._

_To just be wrapped around each other this way, that was what they wished to do._ _This kiss wasn't just a kiss, this kiss was the demise of eternal bliss. The kiss wasn't just a second of meaningless feelings it was the end of priceless beginnings. It wasn't just a thing Yoh wanted to do. He_had _to. It was a need within him that he desired. A desire which he knew she shared as well._

_She did not want to ever let go, she felt her heart stop when he finally parted their lips. He played with a lock of her hair, blushing the whole time. "I'm stronger than I thought." He softly laughed, his voice barely a whisper._

_She smiled. "Idiot." She knew what he meant. He hadn't kissed her since that night when they made love. They'd embraced each other in their arms, they had slept beside each other, all besides kissed. Why? Because of his fear that he would make love to her once more and the next day end up dead._

_But for some reason he couldn't keep himself away from her lips that long, which was why he kissed her just now. He needed to show her his love, he couldn't do enough by just hugging her._

_She was still panting, trying hard to catch her breath, she looked at his eyes. The warmth that came from his eyes practically made her heart want to pump out of her chest. "Don't." –Pant- "Lose." She silently ordered._

_He bent down and picked up his oracle bell. "Alright! Then I'll do my hardest to ask him!"_

_With a determined look he began to walk clutching his oracle bell in his hand. "I'll advance towards my goal of being Shaman King again!"_

_Anna watched him as he walked back down the dusty path. She felt the corners of her lips twitch upward, she let out a sigh and began to walk in the opposite direction from her fiancée._

_And her thoughts drifted away in her head, like the soft blow of the wind._

'_I feel like an idiot for falling in love with you. Yet I don't regret it one bit.' She turned her head to view the back of his body as he got smaller with the distance. And she smiled._

'_I love you…Yoh.'_

Yoh sighed. Once again he had another memory in his dreams; it wasn't that he didn't like remembering these moments, hell he wished he could relive them, but it was that remembering Anna was like a dagger striking at him because he was not with her at the moment.

What a lovesick puppy he was.

He opened his eyes and met with a pair of amber eyes sparkling as they watched him, Yoh instantly flinched.

"Ahh!" he jumped in surprise.

The round, golden eyes belonged to Anna-chan, who was eyeing Yoh with a crooked smile on her tiny face.

"You have very cute dreams, Yoh-kun." She complimented, her eyes having that small glistening fire inside them.

Yoh blushed madly; she had read his mind while he was in his sleep, does that mean she saw…

He turned –if possible—redder than before, his face probably matching the color of a ripe tomato. Anna-chan just watched him with an innocent and cheerful smile on her face, her eyes playful.

"Ah, Yoh-san, you're up!" a voice from the kitchen called out to him.

He turned his head and saw Akiko-san drying her hands on a pink dishtowel, a smile across her pale face. Her green eyes looked at Yoh and then to Anna-chan, who was still staring at Yoh, in awe of his "cute dreams".

"Anna, please come to the kitchen, Yoh-san is not fully awake yet."

Anna got on her toes and turned to Yoh. "We got you some clothes; they're upstairs in the bathroom. We'll play right after school, Yoh-kun!" she cheerfully whispered before going into the kitchen.

Yoh got up and went up the steps; trying to find the bathroom in the enormous house Anna-chan lives in. finally he found the bathroom and got in the shower. He didn't take long and once he was done he put on some clothes (which were obviously Edward's) and headed back down stairs to the dining room.

There he was the biggest Japanese breakfast he would ever eat. The dinning room table was covered in dishes of rice, miso soup, and side dishes such as grilled fish, rolled omelet, pickles, dried seaweed, natto, salad, and way more for Yoh to believe.

His mouth hung open as he stared at the breakfast buffet.

"Sit down and eat, Yoh-kun." The small Anna told him, coming into the dining room in an apron and bringing a box full of more rolled egg omelets. "There we go. Eat up!" she happily said, taking off her oven mitts.

Yoh looked from the food to the small blonde in the apron, then he blinked and shouted, "Anna, you can COOK?"

The small girl arched a brow and stared at the boy with an are-you-seriously-asking-me-this look. "Yoh-kun, what kind of a wife would I be one day if I can't cook?"

'_Seven years old and already thinking of this?'_Yoh laughed in his head. "Anna doesn't cook." He told her.

The small blonde looked at him in awe. "She doesn't?" Yoh shook his head, and her eyes grew. "Then how do you guys eat?"

"Usually our friend, Tamao, cooks for us." He responded. "Either that or our other friend, Ryu."

Akiko-san came in the dining room and brought a basket of oranges and placed them in the middle of the table. "Yoh-san are you not going to eat?"

"Huh? Oh –hai, gomen." Yoh sat down and eyed the food in front of him in astonishment, everything looked so good, he picked up his chopsticks and clapped his hands together calling out "Ikitadimasu~!"

Then he plopped some omelets in his mouth and chewed. "Ah, this is good, Anna-chan~!" he complimented. "You have passed the test."

Akiko and Anna raised a brow. "Test?" they both asked in unison. Yoh popped a mouthful of fish in his mouth and nodded.

"Hai. The test of becoming my wife, he he." He joked.

The two blonde's across the table laughed.

"I hope you're not serious." A voice from the door said, ruining the cheerful mood. Edward was dressed in his school uniform with his suitcase hanging over his shoulder by one of his hands; he looked around the dining room, and set at the table, taking a bite of some miso soup.

"Ohayo, Edward." Akiko greeted cheerfully. "Did you sleep well?"

The boy shrugged and glared at Yoh, who kept on happily eating as if no one was blaring holes into his body. Akiko was amazed at how much the young boy could eat, he kept on stuffing his mouth with food yet, somehow, he kept his manners.

"Does Cadm-san not feed you, Yoh-san?" she asked, blinking at the boy. Yoh laughed.

"It's just that I've never tasted such good food, it's really good!" he announced making Anna-chan smile.

Edward jerked up from the table and pushed his dish to the middle of the table; he got out of his chair and swung his school briefcase over his shoulder. "Let's go, Anna." He ordered.

The small Anna looked at her brother, chopsticks still in mouth, and frowned. "I was going with Yoh-kun, Onichan." She told him.

"Not anymore you're not." He mandated, his eyes irritated from the seven year old disobeying. "You're coming with me; it's dangerous for you to be out in town by yourself."

A vein popped up on Anna's head, "I'm not going to be alone, Yoh-kun is taking me."

Edward slammed his fist on the small kotasu table, making Yoh suddenly realize of the fight going on between the two Kyoyamas. "Ano…"

"Damaru!" Yoh immediately did as told and shut his mouth. Anna-chan jerked out of her chair and gave her "older brother" vicious death glares through her burning brown eyes.

"Iie , damare, onichan!" she shouted. The room suddenly began to lightly shake as the girl screamed at her brother.

Yoh blinked as the house shook. It was a gentle jerk, but yet it took him by great surprise. Akiko and Edward on the other hand didn't seem to notice, but Yoh saw Anna-chan's eyes grow in realization of the shake.

"You two please don't fight." Akiko asked of them, she stood up and suddenly began to cough, turning pale in the process.

Anna looked at her mother's pale and worried face then she looked away from her brother's gaze and ran out the door in frustration.

Yoh watched her go and stood to go after her, but Akiko placed an arm in front of him to stop him. "Let her *cough* *cough* go. Edward *cough* you go after her."

The dirty blonde haired boy looked at his mom before nodding and running off to chase after Anna.

Yoh just stood helplessly at the table; he turned to Akiko-san. "Akiko-san, I can go after her."

The woman shook her head. "Since you are her friend, I wish for you to understand her better, Yoh-san. And for that I need to show you something. *cough* *cough*"

She walked over to a drawer and opened it, taking out a small book, then she sat back to the table. "Here." She said passing him the book.

Yoh opened the book and gazed over the first picture it was a body lying on a hospital bed with a bunch of breathing tubes surrounding their body, along with wires that were hooked up to many machines.

"That was me a few years back." Akiko said with a weak smile. "I have a sickness that causes me to grow weak suddenly. My husband, Kyoyama Damasu, was my doctor and went through a great deal to heal me. But…I died the first time."

Yoh jerked his head to stare at the woman, she just kept smiling weakly, Yoh stared at her, completely stunned by her words.

"However, they said that after a few seconds of being dead my heart began pumping again and I came back to life. Since then my illness was completely healed. But…seven years ago, it came back."

"…" Seven years. It wasn't rocket science; Anna-chan was born seven years ago. _'Her sickness must have begun around the time Anna was born._' The young shaman King noted.

"A few days later, I found Anna-chan over by Mt. Osore and I took her in. Ever since I did my illness has become well…more serious."

Yoh turned to the next page and it was of a child wrapped in blankets, a big mountain in view behind the child. He'd know that baby anywhere, first of all the baby looked a lot like Anna, second the baby was way to stunning to be normal, and thirdly the child had a strong concentrated gaze that was un-normal for infants.

"My husband believes Anna may be the cause of my illness…but I highly doubt that. But I do believe that Anna sometimes thinks she is the cause of it, so I worry."

There was a long, silent, pause; the only sound heard was the _**woosh**_ of the papers as Yoh looked past each picture in the album.

"Akiko-san…does Edward-san also think this?" he asked his tone serious but questionable.

Akiko looked at him and shook her head. "Have you happened to have gone to Shio-san's work any of these days, you know the convenience store?"

"Ano…hai." Why was she asking him this?

"Well then I would like for you to take a better look at that painting hanging over the counter…" she looked at the clock and covered her mouth with one of her hands "oh dear," she gasped. "I'm going to be late if don't leave now!" she jerked out of her seat and picked up a bag off the ground. "make yourself at home, Yoh-san. Oh, and if you wish to visit Anna during her lunch time all info is on the fridge, gomen but I am running late. Je ne!"

With that said she stormed out of the house before Yoh could react to anything that had just happened. He blinked and looked around the house. It was very, very mute and empty.

He stood out of his chair and walked over to the living room, carrying the photo album with him. He sat down near the kotasu table and placed the album on it, flipping to the page where he left off.

He flipped through almost the whole thing until one picture caught his eye. He read the caption in his head, '_Kyoyama Damasu, Oyamada Mansumi, and Kyoyama Anna.'_

He specifically remembered that waitress back at the café saying that Anna's "Father" worked with the Oyamada Company. That seemed to disturb him a bit, seeing as Mr. Oyamada had been a grumpy old man that once something caught his attention he had to have it.

'_But why would Mr. Kyoyama work for him?'_ Yoh wondered.

Suddenly the phone of the Kyoyama home rang, making Yoh jump in surprise, his eyes were now glued to the machine until it went to message recording mode.

_**BEEP. **__**You have one message.**_The machine across from him informed. _**Playing message one.**_

_"__**Kyoyama, this is Tamurazaki,"**__–_Yoh blinked at the name, suddenly more intrigued in the message- _**"since you are not answering I suppose this means you have not arrived back to your home. Getting to the point I must inform you that Mr. Oyamada has sent someone to take care of your…business, she is of the problem's kind so they will be able to interact. But the point is Mr. Oyamada is requesting you NOT to get rid of the problem, instead we will bring it in for studying. Call back as soon as possible."**_

The Shaman King blinked at this information, he got up off the couch and walked over to the machine, pressing the play button to rehear the message.

"Someone to take care of your business…" Yoh repeated after hearing the message for the third time. After listening to it a few more times he shook his head. "Ah, why am I worrying about this?" he asked himself, laughing. "Whatever business this guy has with Mr. Oyamada doesn't involve Anna…or…could it?"

He let out a long sigh and looked outside, it was a nice day to go out and look at the sky…

Then at that moment he headed out the door.

**...**

"Ah~ it feels much better to be outside!" Yoh said to himself. "Being a spirit isn't that bad."

The Shaman King was now in his spirit form, floating around the small town with ease. No one had seemed to be able to see him so what he guessed was that people could only see him when he was with Anna or Cadm.

If that were true than he could practically do anything he wanted to.

He let out a wide grin to take over his face. "I'm going to have a lot of fun. He he."

He floated around the town until he spotted the café where he and Anna-chan were at yesterday. He began to wonder if Cadm was working at this time. Filled with curiosity, the brunette shaman went inside.

He didn't have to use the door, not like he could anyways, all he had to do was float right pass the glass door. When he came inside he searched around for Cadm.

Hmm. The only familiar person he saw was that waitress from yesterday and she seemed greatly occupied at the computers at the moment. With a long sigh Yoh went back out side.

"I wonder what I could do around here." He asked himself, looking around the place. His mind was off wandering.

'_I don't know what to do around here because these past two days I've been with Anna-chan…'_he mentally analyzed.

Then it came to him! He remembered Akiko-san telling him to look at a painting back at the convenience store. Yoh knew which painting she was talking about, he saw it on his first day here, but what did he have to lose by looking at it again?

Having nothing better to do, the brunette decided to go there, who knows? Maybe he would be able to find something out about Anna.

He knew the way to the store, he had passed it many times the last 2-3 days he'd been there. **(A/N: please note how the times are different within and out of the Great Spirit. Outside the Great Spirit it has been 2 weeks & 3 days since Yoh and Anna went to sleep inside the GS. Inside, it's been about only 5 days.)**

"Let's see," he mumbled to himself, looking at his surroundings as he floated past familiar sightings. "It should be right…ah, there!"

At last he spotted the convenience store only a few stores in front, he went over to it and entered it by passing through the door as he did before.

There were hardly any people inside, probably because most people had work or school in the mornings. He went over to the cash register, the guy at it was fast asleep, and looked at the painting over the desk and studied it, realizing some things he did not notice the first time he viewed it.

It was still the painting of a girl in a grassy meadow looking up at the sky, but now he saw much more within the painting.

The girl had short, shoulder-length, golden locks that blew away from her face, and her eyes were an olive brown with a reflection of the clouds in them. Her expression seemed blank. Blank and lonely, she had neither friend nor companion beside or around her, nothing but the clear blue sky which she probably saw each passing day of her life.

Yoh felt a lump in his throat the girl looked exactly like _his_ Anna. Everything about her was like _his_ Anna. The blank eyes, the features of her fragile and peachy face, the form of her body, the way she sat with her knees pulled to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. The girl's kimono had cuts and was ripped in some areas, but you could barely notice because the tall grass practically covered most of the view of her.

It seemed like Anna as if Yoh had never befriended or loved her.

"Interesting painting, isn't it?" A voice asked behind him.

Yoh jerked his head back; Cadm was standing behind him, a smile on his face as he eyed both Yoh and the painting.

"It's Anna." Yoh responded hoarsely. Cadm raised a brow and took a step towards the painting, he scratched his chin as he examined it carefully.

Ohachiyo appeared on the front desk, his arms crossed, looking a bit annoyed at his partner. "Do you really have to get so close to see?" he asked through his gritted teeth.

Cadm gave a dumb-looking smile, "I want to make sure Yoh-sama is looking at this painting right." He laughed.

"But how can you tell if you've never seem the Anna in my time?" Yoh asked.

Cadm considered this and nodded, Ohachiyo let out a sigh, and Yoh laughed. Then he looked back at the painting in wonder. "Why did Akiko-san want me to see this?" he asked aloud.

"Because that blonde hot-headed male of hers painted it." The demon remarked. Yoh blinked and looked at him, his eyes huge.

"Edward-san painted this?" he asked completely amazed.

Cadm nodded, still scratching his chin. "Hai. He painted a visual of what he thought would be little Anna in a few years. Of course he got the position and the face expression from how he usually sees his…sister."

"_Akiko-san…does Edward-san also think this?" he asked his tone serious but questionable._

_Akiko looked at him and shook her head. "Have you happened to have gone to Shio-san's work any of these days, you know the convenience store?"_

"_Ano…hai." Why was she asking him this?_

"_Well then I would like for you to take a better look at that painting hanging over the counter…"_

Now the young king understood why Edward was a pit overprotective over Anna-chan. He thought Anna was lonely, but it was the opposite, Anna-chan has lots of friends but they're all ghost, things that Edward is not able to see. "He sees Anna-chan as lonely."

The other two nodded at his observation, so he knew that he was right. But yet none of this, nothing that has happened so far has told him why Anna had ever shut her heart from everyone.

If this lasted long then how long would it be until he saw Anna again?

**...**

Yoh walked around the Machiosore Park, eyeing all the people that passed him, failing to notice him in the form of a spirit.

He let out a big sigh as he laid on the snow that touched the ground.

It was cold…a weak sense, which was growing and disturbing. The coldness was greatly increasing even though the sun was out and shining, yet somehow snowflakes were falling and landing on his face and melting as they made contact with his warm skin.

Looking at the sun above him made him grow tired, yet aching as he realized the sun was the color of Anna's golden locks… he decided, instead of looking up at the sky, to take a small nap to clear his mind.

Though he knew what would happen as soon as he would close his eyes, those memories of him and Anna would suddenly appear in his head, but frankly at the moment he didn't care. He wanted to see Anna, even if it was only in his head.

He wanted badly to see her, the pain in his chest was excruciatingly painful to his poor heart. Kami-sama, how much he loved her and wished to be with her at the moment.

He'd been away from her before, for three years, for three months, yet being away from her for three days still seemed like an eternity…

'_How much I wish Anna would be here.'_ He wished in his head, he took a deep breath. "Maybe the Great Spirit only lets me have one wish at a time…" *sigh* "Well, everything will work out in the end!" with one long, last stretch of his body, he closed his eyes, letting the sweet memories of him and Anna sweep into his subconscious mind once more.

"_Wah~" the Shaman King yawned. "What a day…first the fight with The Ren, then Hao decides to come to join us in the bath and now he's spending the night…" he sighed "What's really bad is that tomorrow we have to fight the people Manta's dad brought to the island…and it could be our last day…"_

_He walked down the halls of the Inn in his yukata, looking around the place for what could be his last time. Finally, he stopped at the bathroom to brush his teeth._

_He slid the door open and saw Anna at the sink, brushing her teeth. She saw his refection in the mirror placed on the wall in front of her and turned her head. "Oyasuminasai." She said._

_Yoh walked over to the sink beside her and picked up his tooth brush. "Oyasuminasai." He replied, bringing his tooth brush to his lips._

_They brushed in silence, the only noise heard being the brush colliding with their teeth. Finally Anna spoke._

"_Are you scared?" she asked, rinsing out her tooth brush before placing it in the cup on the sink._

_Yoh did the same and answered. "Should I be?"_

_Anna looked at him, her olive eyes piercing small holes into him from her long gaze. "Sooner or later everyone is going to die." She told him. "Death is a way of life, it cannot be avoided."_

_Yoh nodded. "I know. That's why I'm not running away from it. There's no reason for me to."_

_The itako took this in and nodded, Yoh continued brushing his teeth then looked slowly around the room. "Anna?"_

_She turned her head to look at him,_"_Nani, Yoh?"_

_He studied her stone face, trying hard to copy the image of her into his head, so he could keep seeing the image of which he fought for. Anna took two steps closer to him, each one slow and hesitant. She brought her hand up to lightly wrap itself around his hand and pulled him to her._

_Yoh began to take steps towards her until they both heard the door slide open._

_Both their gazes went to the man at the door, who smirked back at the both of them._

"_Well, isn't this something." Hao mused, the smirk still on his smooth face._

_Yoh felt Anna's hand tighten as she glared Hao with death piercing eyes. Hao took a few steps into the room and his gaze landed on Anna._"_Heh, and I thought I saw all things with beauty this world had to offer." He said as he eyed her in her yukata._

_Anna stiffened and let go of Yoh's hand, crossing her arms in front of her. Her amber eyes looking at Hao as if he were an insect. "Why are you here?" she viciously asked, her tone speaking for itself._

_Hao just lazingly placed his arms behind his head and gave her a grin that annoyed her. "Can't I just come into the bathroom whenever I have to do my business?"_

"_He has a point, Anna." Yoh told his fiancée, "When you got to go, you got to go."_

_Anna soften her expression when she looked at her dimwitted fiancé, surely he didn't really believe Hao honestly came to do what he says he came to do. Yoh just looked at her and smiled._

"_See? Even my lower half agrees with me." Hao pointed out. "But now I am curious and suddenly feel guilty."_

_Yoh blinked at his words. "Of what?" he asked._

_Hao gave a mischievous smile, making Yoh wonder if he really should've asked. "Curious," Hao began, "as to what_you_two are doing in here. And guilty, seeing as to this is Yoh's last night with you, Anna."_

_Anna clenched both her hands and her teeth tightly as she atrociously scowled at the older Asakura twin.__Yoh just calmly looked at his brother as placed himself in front of Anna to keep Hao's eyes away from her. Yet his brother smiled, smirked and laughed._"_You think hiding her behind you will help any, Yoh?" he laughed, "I can see her perfectly through your thoughts of her…" –Yoh's eyes widened- "And I must say Anna, your fiancé's got a good image of you naked…"_

_That was it! She pushed Yoh out of the way and raised her left hand to whip Hao across the face, but as soon as she brought her hand down for the impact she felt another hand, a strong one, grab it. She turned and saw Yoh looking down at her, his eyes sad._

"_Don't Anna." Was all he said as he pulled her back to where she was before, behind him._

_Anna's eyes grew as Yoh pulled her behind him, then she began to protest, her eyes burning. "Yoh! He's –he's-"_

"_He's only seeing what I'm thinking of, Anna. He can't control it, if there is someone to blame then it's me for thinking it."_

_Anna blinked as she looked at her fiancé's depressed face. Hao began to smile._

"_So you understand that this power is something I can't control, hmm, that impresses me." The he spun and turned his back to the two of them. "Well, I had my fun for the night-"_

"_Hao." Yoh interrupted, looking at his older brother._

_Hao turned his head to look back at his younger twin. Yoh stared back, completely calm. "You want me to keep a dying wish don't you?" he asked.__Anna stared at Yoh, completely dumbfound, she glared at Hao, knowing his answer immediately._"_It depends if I can keep it." Hao smirked back, his face full of mischief._

_Yoh looked back at Anna then at Hao. "I want you two to get along." He told them, both Hao and Anna stared back each surprised by Yoh's words. He just smiled at the both of them. "You two are both important family for me." He explained, "Hao as my older brother and Anna as…" his face at that moment turned a bright red from the words that were planning on coming out of his mouth._

_Yet the two of them both understood what he meant. Hao turned his head back to the door and slid it open. "Well then I have no problem with that dying wish. Seeing as you_are _my younger brother. And no worries after I eat your soul Anna and I will get along just fine." he laughed at that last sentence._

_Anna crossed her arms and glared at him as he said his last words before leaving the room. Then she turned to Yoh._

_He stood with his back to her, staring at the now closed door. She couldn't see his face yet she felt that Hao's words had somehow saddened him._

"_Yoh, I-"_

_He spun and was across to her in what seemed like no time at all, not even the smaller part of a second. Anna only had time to register the ferocious expression on his face before his lips were crushing against hers and his arms were locked around her like steel girders._

_She immediately forgot what she was going to say. It didn't take long for her to grasp the reason for his mood, and even less to feel exactly the same way._

_He pushed her against the wall, still kissing her with lust and hunger, it was the biggest and longest kiss he had given her since that night where they made love. Yet neither of them minded being in each others arms this way, kissing each other with the greatest feeling of love they had for one another._

_Then he started kissing her neck as she moaned. She could barely keep her thoughts straight during this time, all she could think of at the moment was him; and all Yoh could think of was her._

"_Gomen Anna," he hoarsely apologized as he pressed his lips to hers once more. He wanted to enjoy what could possibly be his last moments with her, he wasn't planning on going far, he didn't want to do that to her._

_Yet he didn't want to pull away from her lips, even as he was now having trouble breathing he didn't want to pull away, but in the end he had to._

_And when he pulled away they were both breathing roughly, both their hearts pounding at the same rapid speed, Yoh placed his head on Anna's chest and rested it there, his face practically glowing in color._

_Anna held him tightly to her, not wanting to let go or for him to let go. She heard Yoh's pants as he apologized once more. And she shook her head. "Don't kill yourself over it, Yoh."_

_He laughed and raised his head, then sweetly brushed his lips to hers once more before grinning at her, his cheeks still pinkish._

"_I love you, Anna."_

Yoh didn't want to open his eyes; he wanted to keep them closed to keep that wonderful memory in his head, the memory of kissing her, and holding her. What he felt was his face growing red from those thoughts, the blood rushing quickly to his head.

He felt something else though, a sort of warm feeling beside him, as if the sun was brought down beside him, but he ignored it, thinking deeply of that sweet moment.

Then her name softly escaped his lips. "Anna…" he involuntarily called.

"Nani, Yoh?"

His eyes flew open almost instantly at that voice, that smooth and cool ringing voice which he recognized so easily, because it belonged to her.

His vision was a total blur at the moment, but he could see it, he could see her. Her olive eyes were staring down at him in concern, her short blonde hair framing her face as she had her head bent down to stare at him. And everything about her was real, yet he couldn't help asking…

"Anna? Is that really you?"

Yoh saw her roll her eyes and frown. "No, it's Chocolove, of course it's me you-"

She didn't have time to say anything else because. Like in the memory Yoh was viewing, she felt Yoh's strong arms warp themselves around her and pull her over top of him, their lips crushing together.

Her eyes were wide with surprise as he kissed her with lust and joy. Yoh's mouth was hot and hard and Anna thought she must be hallucinating, dreaming, because kisses could not possibly feel this good, could not possibly be real, because she could feel his love through every muscle that pressed against him as he kissed her. She suddenly found herself kissing back causing Yoh to smile in between the kiss.

Finally he pulled away, both their faces bright pink, Yoh had a wide grin on his face while Anna blinked in his arms, her faced flushed, her breathing ragged.

"How… flattering." She curtly mumbled under her breathing.

Yoh laughed and pushed her head so that her ear would be close to his lips. Then he whispered to her, "I'm glad you're here, Anna."

* * *

_**History's Flames'**_

_**Chapter Ten**_

Being what she is, Nianna has seen death so much death that comes to many people, around her. Guilt comes to her from all this.

At hearing the long and final beep of the cardiac monitor Goldva had been connected to the brunette girl couldn't help but to feel the guilt of death rise in her once more.

She could only imagine what it's like to sacrifice, to offer all I have, unto those whom she could only imagine what it's like to be alone, how it feels to be rejected, how to get by on my own, to feel empty deep inside. She was only dirt, dirt stolen from Kami-sama's creation that is this earth and used to form her.

But then that was when Hao's words echoed in her head. _'She doesn't have a fucking heart.'_ Nianna blinked, letting the words settle down in her head, he took a breath before she asked, "What. Did. You. Say?" she asked her breathing suddenly turning rigged.

Hao turned to look at her, his eyes dark, "Did you not hear me?" he said coldly, as if his words were venom, "She doesn't have a fucking heart."

Jeanne was the first to react. "That's impossible Hao," she breathed, she too in shock, "How can she not have a heart?"

"I don't fucking know!" he shouted standing up and throwing his hands up in exasperation.

Marco was about to open his mouth, about to yell at Hao for screaming at the Maiden, Luchist grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, shaking his head not to do it. For once Marco took his advice and remained silent, but not without giving Asakura a warning glare.

Faust looked at Hao. The Asakura's perfectly sculpted face was a statue of rage that only came from the feeling of being clueless. Nianna wondered what was going through that man's head. Here was man who used to look at the stars every day and think. In lazy days, lonely nights, looking for a lonely star, who'd keep him company throughout the hell that was his life. He would look at the widespread sky, him being a lonely soul, gazing at the moon so bright.

"Hao, have Annaka-san and you had sexual intercourse?" Faust suddenly asked, several Shaman blushed red at the question. "Since Anna-san revived her I mean."

Tao Ren and Usui Horokeu each made a face of disgust, the X-Laws remained quiet, yet their faces showed revolting unapproval of this. Now as for Tamao, her face was difficult to read. Everyone else's face was in between disgust and disapproval of the question.

Hao shook his head, "No." he said curtly, "She never let me touch her."

"I can see why," Horohoro mused, "Finding out that your wife literally doesn't have a heart is a huge turn off." Ren punched him in the balls.

Faust's face was in thought, searching his head for a medical answer that would be enough to save the girl. If it were that easy. Manta seemed to think the same. "Faust, this isn't science. This is beyond it."

"He's right," Luchist agreed, scratching his beard while in thought, "This is all Shamanic."

Jeanne frowned, her eyes lerking over the blonde's body, now going into hyperventilation, "That doesn't mean we're not going to try," she stated, suddenly walking over to Annaka and brought out her spirit. Shamash brushed its lips on the blonde's, pouring furyoku the best it could. Annaka's skin gaining a sudden blue glow yet she didn't open her eyes.

Oyamada Manta was standing beside Nianna, eyeing the situation in front of him. He turned to her, his eyes completely dilated in worry. "C-can they revive her?" he hesitated to ask.

Nianna didn't answer.

"Jeanne-sama, do not waste your precious furyoku on her. Jeanne-sama!" Marco commanded in a worriedly overprotective tone. He ran over to the pale maiden shaking her and telling her to stop Shaman immediately.

The Iron Maiden refused, she shook her head roughly. "Non." She replied, "Anna-san revived her for a reason Marco," she took a deep breath before placing Shamash's lips on Annaka's once more, "I'm not one to doubt her decisions."

"Jeanne-sama, please think about this." The green haired boy pleaded to his leader, grabbing a hold of her. "She might already be a goner." Hao narrowed his eyes at the boy's words.

Jeanne yanked herself from Lyserg's grasp and set Shamash to kiss Annaka once more, furyoku pouring into the blonde without hesitation, without a break.

"Marco, calm her down." Luchist hissed under his breath, standing impatiently, and waiting for the scene to end.

"Maiden-sama," Marco began to plead, "For all we know this could be an omen-"

He was cut off at the sudden pain to his face that sent him flying back to the ground. Everyone looked at Hao, his knuckle was now bloody with Italian blood, he narrowed his dark eyes, his voice menacing, "Call my wife an omen one more time and I'll fucking kill you."

Nianna rolled her eyes, "Your wife is not normal, Asakura. Anna lied to you. She played you and just made you look like a fool who was desperate for his wife. For all you know she might not even be the real Annaka."

"Not like you're any better." Ren spat suddenly to everyone's surprise. The Chinese shaman crossed his arms out in front of him, a sudden faith in his friend taking place, "I don't trust in that woman as much as Yoh, but if he trusts her then that's all I need to know that she's smart enough to not make stupid decisions." He turned to Faust, "She wanted you in Yoh's team for a reason, so I'm sure you're capable of handling this."

Faust nodded in response, a sudden hope filled the doctor's face, his eyes thankful for the kind words. "Eliza." That woman appeared by his side, her hands in two metal rectangles which were wired to the side of her hips. An oversoul of AED machine.

The woman looked at the blonde as she connected wires around Annaka-san's body, hooking her up to a cardiac monitor. Then her gaze turned to her husband and she parted her half lifeless lips. "Lauf der Zeit?" she asked in her soft German tone.

Faust smiled and took her hand in his, "Yes Eliza. I'm going to give her some of my time." he whispered gently, so soft so that only his love could hear. That man had a pure heart. One of the most pure of hearts ever, to sacrifice his time and give it to another for the sake of young love was not something you saw among many these days.

Hao's face turned grim. "Faust…" he warned, "You don't have to do this." He knew what the doctor was up to. Asakura Hao knew almost everything. All Faust did was shake his head, flaming fires appeared in the Asakura's eyes, the flames that made you know he was entering your head.

And Faust seemed to take this opportunity to plug himself to the AED machine and warm up the metal plates on Eliza's hands. And whispering as the instrument in Eliza's hands charged. He looked at Hao, his face in a soft smile, "I trust Anna-sama's actions, Hao."

_**CHIING~ BANG~!**_

Nothing. All the shock did was send and electrical current through Annaka's body, making it jump with a jolt from the impact.

Faust seemed to notice that the shock did nothing and he tried again, warming up the plates once more, the expression on his face more determined. "Once more, Eliza." He commanded to his spirit wife.

_**CHIING~ BANG~!**_

Nianna watched Annaka's body jump once more from the impact of the shock as it rushed through her nerves, the brunette was unphased by the whole scene A few feet away from her she saw Ari flinch. The girl swiftly ran to Wilhelmina and whispered in her ear, as she spoke into her Chinese ally's ear the image of the words went straight to Nianna's head.

_Ryu taking a step forward to comfort the Maiden, who was still stunned from the slap she received from Tamao, then the dolt trips over his own feet, and Hana who was in his arms…_

"No!" She gasped, instantly jerking her head towards the muscular shaman to her right.

He began to take that step, his eyes glued to the pale 10 year old in the green haired boy's arms, then as showed from the images from Wilhelmina, the idiot tripped over his two feet.

Only Kami-sama knows how in the world she got the speed to do this, but in the blink of everyone's eyes, she bolted up and launched herself to catch the infant who was floating in the air.

It was seen as if time stop and all Nianna could see was Hana as he landed on Annaka's stomach just as Faust brought the metal plated to the blonde's body; Nianna grabbed Hana's small fragile and just as soon as the metal plates made contact with the blonde's skin.

_**CHIIINNGG~ BANG~!**_

A bolt of heat flooded through the brunette with the impact, lightning flying through her veins like a forest that had caught on fire. It spread like a phantom throughout a haunted castle, slowly and with a pattern, She shut my eyes tightly and clenched her teeth to keep myself from screeching out an agonizing wail.

The girl's body began to tremble and her blood was accelerating through her body at an impossible speed, the trembling was getting tighter and faster. She felt as if she was losing age. The time of her life slip out through with a jolt through her fingers.

She lost her breath and fell as soon as Faust pulled the plates away from Annaka, realizing what had just happened. Nianna fell, to the ground, pulling Hana with her, he landed gently by her side. Staring at her without a care in the world, while Nianna felt her lungs about to burst.

The blonde on the ground jerked up in a sitting position at that moment. She too breathing in large amount of air to get her lungs working. She was drenched in sweat, but decided to ignore that fact as her eyes scanned the room, her crimsoned eyes making sure what was around her was all real. Annaka's red eyes guided themselves to the other shamans. They were all prepared for anything that would've gone wrong, she knew this because Ren and Chocolove were in the front of the group as if there _was_ danger.

To her left she saw Marco readying his gun, standing in front of Lyserg, who had Jeanne in his arms, a big pink flush on one of her cheeks.

The only calm ones were Luchist, Opacho and Soraguimi. Everyone else was frozen, weapons ready, as if she was actually going to latch out at them. Manta was the first to react calmly, he slowly moved around her –each step taking nearly half a second, each step flowing sinuously like river water weaving over smooth stones –his hand still outstretched.

"Annaka-san?" he asked in a low, calming tone, but the worry in his voice layered Annaka's name with tension.

She could not answer immediately. The girl's mind spun out, spiraling back to what was happening a few moments ago.

"Faust maybe you did something wrong." Horohoro suggested in the far corner, annoyed that the girl was taking so long to respond.

Faust worriedly took this opinion in.

"I'm fine," she answered calmly.

Ryu ran over to the blonde eyeing her. "Miss Annaka you look much better now!" he piped up, a nervous smile on his face.

Annaka glared at him. "You dropped Hana on me, _while _Faust stuck me with the AED oversoul!" she accused him.

Ryu flinched and hid behind Tamao. "I'm sorry, Miss Annaka, it was an accident~!" he wined, scared for his life at what the blonde might do to him.

But the girl did nothing, her eyes turned to Nianna, who was on the floor gasping violently for air, the infant in her arms completely unphased by what had happened. Annaka sighed, "Just go get Hana," she ordered Ryu. The man instantly did as she said, she turned to Faust, "Tend to Nianna." Faust nodded and stood.

Everyone else was silently watching Annaka, she didn't miss their gazes, they were questioning her. Annaka took a deep breath turned to Hao, her gaze suddenly becoming serious, at seeing his dark expression.

"I need to talk to you. Alone." Everyone turned to look at Annaka

Manta sweat dropped. "She acts as if nothing happened…" he muttered to himself.

"Hai. A bit stubborn isn't she?" Arisu said, suddenly appearing beside him making Manta and Ren jump a mile in the air.

"ARE YOUR TRYING TO KILL ME, WOMAN!" the Tao shouted in anger, his eyes raging in fire.

The pixie girl just grinned at him.

"Master Ren's hair spiked up!" Bason shouted in horror of his master's temper.

Ren took out his spear and aimed it at the girl's head. "You have bothered me long enough, woman. Tell me who the hell you are." He menacingly ordered.

Manta frantically waved his hand above him while jumping so that the Chinese boy could see him. "Ren." –Jump- "stop." –Jump- "you. Don't. have. To do. That!" –Jump, jump, jump, jump-

The Tao didn't listen he glared at the small girl in front of him. _'She's as dangerous as a leaf, and I can slice a leaf up in a few picoseconds.' _He said to himself. "Now, tell me what the hell you are." he said through his gritted teeth.

"Iie…lover boy."

"Kisama!" he jumped in the air and threw his spear forward, aiming it at the small girl.

All Ari did was stand there with a smile that made Ren even more furious. Then before he brought his spear to slice her he saw her lips move, mouthing something.

3…2…1… she mouthed, when she reached zero Ren felt a wire wrap around him and pull him back to the ground. He recognized the wire perfectly because he had to face it before, Lyserg's pendulum.

"Ren-kun, don't lose your temper like that! They are friends here to help us!" Lyserg shouted as he pulled Ren down.

He let Ren go and brought the wire back into his medium, looking at the Tao with an apologetic look. Ren grimed and was going to open his mouth to say something but stopped when he saw the pixie girl suddenly appear with her arms around the green haired boy.

"Arigatou, Lyserg-kun!" she said, practically hanging on to Lyserg's body.

The green haired boy blushed to the roots of his hair, why were girls suddenly getting close to him? He waited till the girl let go of him, but it didn't seem to be anytime soon. Manta found himself studying the girl as she took the liberty to hang from Lyserg; it was rather odd. The girl acted as if she were among people whom she had known all her life, yet none of them, not even Lyserg whom she glued herself to, had known her until recently.

"She likes him…and The Maiden does not seem pleased by it." Tamao stated, her eyes dark. Manta looked up at her; she didn't look the same, something about her eyes and the way she said those words…flat out cold...was something wrong with Tamao?

"Tamao? Are you okay?" Manta asked, taking a few steps back just incase.

Tamao turned to look at him, she blinked and Manta noticed she was clueless to why he was stepping away. "Ano…why? Do I seem strange?" she asked, her tone sounded of one of worry.

From a few feet away Hao heard this and arched a brow, the girl's thoughts were slowly changing in a fraction of a second, something was up. Manta shook his head, he was sure that minutes ago she was a whole other person… "No, never mind it's nothing." From a corner, Emmetto smirked, and Wilhelmina looked at him as if he were crazy to smirk for no apparent reason.

"Oi, Shorty." Hao called out to Manta, who responded with Hao's nickname for him. "Call your father; we're going to need a ride to get off the island."

Manta sweat dropped and pointed to himself. "Me?" he asked wearingly.

"Do you know anyone else who has a rich father that can get us an aircraft in a few hours?" Annaka's voice called out, suddenly appearing beside Manta who jumped with shock of her sudden appearance. The blonde threw him a cell phone and Manta barley caught it between his mini hands.

He began to dial numbers fast, Annaka and Hao turned their gazes to everyone around them. Hao opened his mouth, "We're leaving this place, so let's go." He ordered the other shamans. His gazed then turned to five specific shamans and said in a low, serious tone, "And you five are coming with us."

No one refused, no one went against him.

And no one asked about Annaka

**...**

"Uh-huh, okay…I see…fine…hmm I'm not surprised…okay we'll wait…ja ne." Asanoha hung up the oracle bell on which she was talking to and turned her gaze to Jane.

"That was Luchist, he said they are now leaving Mu to head back." she acknowledged the blue haired Patch.

Jane took a sip of her tea and nodded, then she placed the cup on the table and looked up at the blonde Asakura, her red eyes shining. "They won't be back for another three days if they are just now leaving…" she muttered.

Asanoha took a seat on the other side of the table and took a sip of her tea. "Hao found out about Annaka." She said into her cup, not bothering to react to Jane's action.

The Patch slammed her hands on the table and looked at the Asakura in horror. "He what? How?" she exclaimed, spilling her tea all over her green dress.

Asanoha closed her eyes and set down her cup, she sighed. "He just did," she replied curtly and left it at that.

Jane grabbed a napkin and began dabbing the cloth at her dress to get rid of the tea stain on her dress. "What else happened?"

There was a long pause as both women thought about the occurring events. "Let's see, the cause of the Apocalypse has not yet been discovered, at least they are still unsure of the cause. The Patch leader is now dead, Anna's secret with Annaka has been exposed, Hanagumi still hasn't opened up their hearts…what else was missing? Oh yeah…There's a third Queen." Asanoha said out loud. She knew the danger that was behind this. So she was not surprised at Jane's next action.

"WHAT!" Suddenly the French Maiden felt a bit woozy, her head began to hurt terribly. "Impossible, how…?" she paused, her eyes narrowing, "Goldva." she said the name with such disgust that she did not hid it from the blonde.

"Goldva is dead. As I said before."

"Well, the Lord knows when it's time to take an old hag."

Asanoha busted out laughing. "Nice to know you cared about her."

Jane glared hard at the table under her hands; she was in such a rage she felt like she could punch it in two. "What are we to do about the third one?" she softly whispered to herself in question.

"We can't kill her, or we'll stoop down to the hag's level." Asanoha mused. "Besides, killing is not in our conscious so we'll let her live and when Yoh and Anna return we'll let them decide."

Before Jane could comment a voice broke through the house.

"Ohayo Jane-san, Asanoha-san!" greeted a happy Pirika as she came down the stairs dressed and ready for the day. Behind her Jun greeted them as well.

But Hanagumi also came down the stairs; they on the other hand didn't say a word. Instead they went straight to the couches and sat down, their faces dull.

Jun let out a sigh as she came in the kitchen to help Jane and Asanoha. "It seems they have not let go yet."

"Well what do you expect?" Asanoha asked as she chopped some onions at a rather rapid pace. "They are girls that were taught to be nothing but hardheaded."

From the living room Hanagumi frowned at the woman's remark.

Jane shrugged and walked into the living room carrying a dish full of egg rolls. She smiled at Hanagumi and placed the egg rolls on the table in front of them. Pirika took some chopsticks and took a bite of her egg role.

"You all better eat, too." Jane said to the blank girls lying on the couch. "The others will be coming back in three days."

Pirika's eyes dilated from what she just heard, she jumped and got closer to the Patch woman, her eyes getting bigger with each passing second. "Really! Onichan's coming back soon?"

"Aho." Pirika glared at Kanna, who just stayed at the couch with her arms crossed. "You really expect us to believe that just after a week and three days Lord Hao and the others have manage to destroy whoever is causing the delay in the Great Spirit?" she coldly remarked.

Jane smiled and shook her head. "Iie, they just ran into some complications." She cheerfully stated.

Mari held Chuck closer to her chest. "Mari wants to know what kind of complications." She told them.

Jane frowned as she thought about the reason, still not feeling comfortable about it. Asanoha smiled maliciously and said, "Annaka-san is pregnant." The comment was meant to be a joke, the blonde really just wanted to see everyone's reactions.

They didn't disappoint.

Macchi choked on a piece of egg roll at that moment, and it landed right beside where Kanna was sitting. She looked it for a solid minute before turning her attention back to Macchi, her face wrinkled with disgust. "Gee, thanks, Mati." she said curtly.

Matilda was now hitting her chest with her fist, coughing, she glared at the Patch woman. "DON'T SAY SUCH THINGS WHEN I'M TRYING TO EAT!" she protested, her cheeks turning red.

Kanna threw the couch pillow at her. "Baka! Don't think like that!" she yelled at her, her cheeks turning red as well.

Mari blinked as she thought about it. "Mari does not understand…" she said. Beside her Pirika wiggled uncomfortably to her side and whispered into the Italian girl's ear. Mari turned bright pink and screamed, hiding her face in Chuck's hair.

"Well I think it's sweet!" Jun clapped, suddenly appearing in the living room with them. "For two people to express their love and have a child…it's kawai~!"

Jane glared at Asanoha, she turned to the other girls, "She was kidding. Annaka is not pregnant."

A vein appeared in Kanna's temple. "To say such things…it's repulsive." She accused.

Asanoha smiled sweetly, "There are things in life so much more repulsive than that Kanna-san. With luck you will one day not have to face any."

**...**

Kino opened her mouth.

Kino chewed.

Kino took a sip of water before placing the cup down.

Kino took up a piece of meat with her chopsticks.

Kino chewed.

Someone gulped, when she took another sip of water and slammed it on the table.

"I swear, you two are exactly the same." She muttered across the room. "Always bringing more guests whenever something happens. Tell me why that is…Hao."

Hao was across the enormous Asakura dining table at the other end. He had his head rested on his hand, his elbow propped up and rested on the table. He brought his cup of tea to his lips and took a sip before answering.

"It can't be helped." He stated, a wide, mischievous smile on his face. He looked over at Annaka, who sat to his right eating some fried fish, then he turned his attention back to his grandmother. "You're telling me you don't approve, Kino?"

Yohmei slammed his fist on the table. "It's not that we don't approve!" he contradicted. "We just want you to explain why you are sent to protect Yoh from a great danger and come back finding no danger and bring back your pregnant wife and…what are you again?" he asked Nianna.

Nianna smiled and turned to Yohmei. "A copy of Anna-san made from the three elemental spirits, sir." She curtly answered, giving baby Hana his bottle of formula.

Yohmei slapped his hand on his forehead. "I am getting to old for this." He mumbled under his breath. Then he turned to Soraguimi, who sat beside and across form Nianna. "And why are you three here?"

Arisu took a sip of her water and looked at the elder Asakura. "We were forced to come here by Hao-oni-" before she could say anymore Emmetto stuffed a slice of sushi into her mouth and answered for her.

"Asakura Hao stated we had to come too." He said, earning a nod from Wilhelmina.

Keiko eyed the three of them before turning to the cloaked boy beside Nianna. "And he is…?"

"Nagehiko doesn't talk or show his face much." The dark haired Anna replied, a sort of annoyed tone in her voice as Nagehiko growled beside her.

"I see." Keiko answered back, a bit uneasy.

Another fist slammed against the table, all eyes fell on the Great leader of the Tao family. Tao En glared across the table to Hao. "What does any of this have to do with Ren?" he asked in rage. "You sent my son out to America for no reason at all?"

Hao calmly took a bite of his fish and looked at the giant Tao. "I wasn't the one that called your son to come and help. That was all the Patch, your son was the one that came along in order to save his dear friend." Hao mocked.

En glared his eyes at the long haired Asakura, making Tamao and Manta shiver in fear from where they were sitting.

"Ren wouldn't do that, seeing as if Asakura Yoh were to die then Ren could have an easy chance at getting the Shaman King throne." He said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Are you so sure about that, Tao?" Annaka asked, placing her cup gently on the table, all eyes now placed upon her.

Annaka simply ignored all the eyes that were glued to her, even Tao Ren's menacing glare from down the table. She just turned her gaze to the wall to her left. "You act like you know your son quite well, En, but you're completely clueless on how soft your son can be."

Ren hair spiked up by at least three inches from those words, he jerked up and aimed this spear across the table, only a few inches away from the blonde's face. "I, Tao Ren, am not soft!" he clamored.

The blonde ignored him, but yet her gaze turned to the purple haired Chinese shaman. "Tell me Tao Ren, would you still want to be Shaman King knowing if you become it then you would have to marry the one person your friend loves the most?"

Ren sat back down and put away his spear, not saying a word at the comment the blonde just made. Neither Annaka nor Hao had to read his mind to find out what his answer was.

Annaka popped some sushi into her mouth and chewed, then she turned her question to the others on the table. "What about the rest of you?"

At first, there was absolute silence. In between, it's an emotional silence, that'd kill with bare hands. Attentive silence, absorbed in the environment. Thoughtful silence, wallowing and preparing. Embezzled silence, bored in self indulgence. Quiet silence, uncomfortable and unwanted. Subdued silence, waiting in the wings. Meditative silence, which can move heaven and earth. In all these communicable silences, no one said a word.**(A/N: Don't you just love how many kinds of silences I can come up with, haha.)**

Hao smirked at all their expressions of thought, then he looked at his wife who stood up with one last glance in their direction and said, "As I thought…you all love your friend." Then with that said she left the room, leaving everyone to their thoughts.

Hao stretched out his arms and laughed. "I am enjoying this quality time with family but I'd like to get to the point." He coolly said.

All attention and heads were turned to him, ready to hear what the real head of the Asakura had to say.

"What do we do about her?" he asked, his eyes gradually pointing at Nianna.

The Asakura and Tao elders began to think, pondering over what they could do. Then it was The Iron Maiden who responded by clearing her throat, getting all pairs of eye to view her.

"I do not see any harm by keeping her." She attentively began. "We failed in finding the threat that will cause harm to the throne, but we have her" –she pointed to Nianna- "and Annaka-sama to help us with any thing as such. So why not let her join us?"

"Ingeniously put, Jeanne-sama." Marco applauded.

"You all fail to see a threat in here." Avaf informed them, suddenly appearing above Chocolove's shoulder. "Has it not occurred to any of you why Goldva kept saying she _had_ to kill _one_ of them?"

That had certainly not occurred to any of the shaman, eyes grew, and questions began forming in everyone's heads.

Chocolove gave a lazy shrug and added, "Why not just ask Nianna here directly?"

Nianna looked up from Hana's gaze and stared back into the eyes that surveyed her. Everyone besides Nagehiko and Soraguimi eyed her with skeptical puzzlement. She returned her gaze to the Shaman Prince in her arms and said, "That's something I cannot reveal."

"It's your scream isn't it?"

The girl's head jerked up to look at the pink haired shaman with astonishment, as so did many others.

"I have noticed it before," Tamao added, a bit out of her character, "you, Anna-sama, and Annaka. Each time you scream something happens." She raised her head and had some strange view in her eyes, Manta shivered, she looked different again, more grave.

Ari and Wilhelmina both looked at Emmetto, a smirk began to slowly creep on his features as he looked at the girl.

Hao stared at the girl in analytical examination, his eyes becoming firery as he searched through the girl's head; then Tamao's gaze fell on Hao, she narrowed her pink eyes at him. The face seemed somehow familiar to him that way, those pink narrow eyes turning cold under his gaze. Then at that instant Tamao grabbed her hands and looked away, the coldness in her eyes turning into shy warmth once more.

"Itai~!" she yelped, rubbing the burnt wounds on her hands from before.

Horohoro raised a brow at her. "Tamao?"

She looked up shyly to see all attention being paid to her. "Ah, gomen! My wrist just burn for some strange reason." She apologized.

Kino hit Tamao in the head with her cane. "Please excuse this girl… she is very slow."

Tears formed in Tamao's eyes. "Gomen~!" she apologized.

Then Kino cleared her throat. "Well then," she began, "I see no trouble with this girl and her allies to be staying under the watch of the Asakuras." She announced, then her head turned to Hao's side. "Do you two? Matamune and Ohachiyo?"

The two spirits appeared each on one side of Hao. Both of them shaking their heads. "I see no trouble from this." Matamune announced. Ohachiyo nodded in agreement, "As long as the Asakura have an eye on them, I'm fine."

Amidamaru then appeared above Hao's head. "What about Yoh-dono? There is still a great threat for him and Anna-dono out there." He worriedly asked.

Hao stood up and made his way out, stopping before getting to the exit. "Annaka took care of that with the Patch, they'll warn us if they spot anything out of the ordinary. Now if you excuse me, I got a pregnant wife that needs my attention." Then he left to join Annaka in the living room.

Mikihisa scratched the back of his head, "Ah, that son of ours is troublesome."

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement.

* * *

**DON'T. FORGET. TO. REVIEW**


	11. Everyone's An Idiot

**I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY FOR HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO WRITE THIS CHAPTER YOU GUYS! TWO WEEKS IS TOO MUCH TO WAIT I KNOW.**

**BUT I HAD A FEW PROBLEMS…OKAY LET ME JUST TELL YOU GUYS.**

**THE FIRST WEEK I'VE BEEN IN THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE ONE OF MY FRIENDS ACCIDENTELY GAVE ME A CHAPSTICK THAT SAID "SPF 15" AND WELL…I'M ALLERGIC TO SUNSCREEN. AND MY ALLERGIC REACTION IS FAINTING RIGHT ON THE SPOT, REDNESS AROUND SKIN AND TROUBLE BREATHING.**

**AND THEN THESE LAST 3 DAYS I GOT A FEVER OF 104.2 YEAH I KNOW WOW.**

**AND SO THE LITTLE DAYS I'VE HAD TO WRITE I'VE BEEN STRESSING BECAUSE I KEPT REWRITING THE CHAPTER! (JUST SHOWS HOW MUCH I WANT Y'ALL TO LIKE EVERY CHAPTER) BUT I DECIDED I'VE MADE YOU ALL WAIT LONG ENOUGH.**

**NOW I KNOW I PUT A LOT OF (A/N) BUT I WANT THINGS TO CATCH UR MINDS SO THAT Y'ALL CAN KINDA GUESS AROUND ABOUT QUESTIONABLE THINGS.**

**ANYWAY TIME FOR REVIEW THANK YOUS!**

**diOna**- _well thank you for reviewing first of all. ^-^ glad to know ur enjoying the fic. Thank you I try my best to keep them ALL in character._

**Hpcs2 - Suprema Onmyoji Isah:**_haha gracias!_

**Maya Aquaria**: _fhew, for a second I thought you left my story. Glad to have you back!_

**Ja 01'Loving you Always**': _haha, yea the second ice queen is alive. EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! Haha. Oh yea lots of people will die, and Anna specifically said ALL of Machiosore will be dead. *goosebumps*_

**Nightglider:**_glad you're enjoying the YohAnna parts. I work on those the hardest to please my readers, not to mention trying hard to make them realistic enough. *takes cookie and waits for other half*_

**NOT SO MANY REVIEW AS THEY USUALLY ARE BUT SUMTHINGS MESSED UP WITH THE REVIEWING THING ON THIS WEBSITE SO PROBABLY THE REST OF Y'ALL COULDN'T BECAUSE OF THAT.**

**WELL REVIEW FOR THE NEXT ONE!**

**~CrysitaNaima**

* * *

_**History's Flames;**_

* * *

_**A Thousand Paper Cranes Arc**_

_**Chapter Eleven**_

Anna blinked, and awkwardly shifted in Yoh's arms, not having any clue what to say back, she turned away from his gaze, her face turning blank but pink, and softly said, "Idiot."

Yoh just grinned and held her tighter; not wanting to let her go, then something dawned on him as he began reasoning his thoughts in his head. "Anna…why are you here?"

_**SMACK!**_

Yoh winced at the brutal slap the blonde itako gave him, Anna pushed herself out of his arms and stood up, leaving Yoh there on the ground, trying to realize what had happened. "WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?" the Queen irritably shouted out in rage, looking at her husband in anger and disbelief. "I SHOULD BE THE ONE ASKING YOU WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE DOING IN _MY_HEAD!"

Yoh blinked and he stood up, dusting the snow off of his clothes, then he looked at Anna and gave a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his head. "It was involuntary, Anna."

Anna furrowed her eyebrows together, a vein popping on her forehead, "_Involuntary_?" she yelled through her gritted teeth, her hand rolled up in two perfect and tight fist.

Yoh didn't flinch…much. Part of him was used to Anna's yelling when he did something wrong, the other part couldn't help but to still be a bit frighten when she was this way. After all, Anna's power was strong enough to kill you with one thought. Sooner or later Yoh would have a power many times greater than Anna's, but he doubted that that would make him feel any less afraid.

"Anna, I really didn't mean to!" Yoh blurted out in explanation. "If I would've known I would have been away from you for so long I wouldn't have-"

He stopped immediately when he saw her cock up one of her perfect brows. She closed her eyes and softly said, "It's only been about four days, Yoh."

Yoh once again scratched the back of his head and looked down at the shining white snow under his shoes. "I guess I can't stay away from you even for a few days, Anna." He admitted, his brown eyes turning soft, and a faint pink glow appearing on his cheeks.

Anna felt her eyes grow, but immediately recovered and turned her back to him swiftly. "Idiot." She mumbled once more, trying to hide the smile forming on her face. She let out a sigh and straightened herself. "Don't suck up to me just so I won't stay mad at you." She accused. "I'm still not forgiving you for entering my subconscious memories this way."

Yoh hung his head, Anna completely misunderstood the meaning of his words. But even as she accused him, she didn't seem so mad at all. So he just simply cheered himself up and smiled, walking over to Anna's side. "I'm still not leaving, Anna. Not until I find out what happened to you here." He whispered in her ear.

Anna rapidly jerked her body to view him, her olive eyes wide with disbelief. "T-that's why your in my head?" she stuttered. Yoh nodded his head, and Anna felt a big lump at her throat. "You can't…I won't allow you to do that." She told him.

"Why?" he asked. He saw Anna receive a shock from his question; obviously she must've thought he would have obeyed her if she would've just said no.

"Bad things happened here, Yoh. I don't want you to find out about them."

Yoh shook his head. Even if Anna did not want him to know what had happen, for once in his life he was planning to not listen to her. She was shutting him out of her heart, like she tried to do five years ago and Yoh just didn't listen to her, saying he wanted to help her out. How did that turn out? She ended up loving him, and he her.

"I know that bad things must've happened, Anna. I saw one of them." –Anna jerked her head up to look at him- "I saw what happened to Shio Yui, I was the first time you summoned an oni, right?"

"Hai." She answered blankly, her eyes turning away from his kind face. "And it was my first murder." She reminded him.

"But you didn't mean to. You won't do it agai-"

"DO YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE I DON'T MEAN TO MEANS IT DIDN'T HAPPEN?" she shouted at him, this time Yoh didn't flinch, he just stood there as she shouted at him, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"HAS IT NOT OCCURRED TO YOU, YOH?" she asked him.

Yoh calmly answered her. "What has?"

Anna seemed surprised that Yoh was able to stay calm while she yelled at him. He just stood there, waiting for her answer, his eyes filled with plenty of concern to what she had to say. Anna seemed to calm herself and took a deep breath.

"Answer me, Yoh. Have you ever even heard of this place before? Or any other Kyoyamas? Or Manta ever mentioning a doctor he knew with the name Kyoyama?"

Yoh thought about it for a small second, taking in Anna's words. "Iie." He answered.

"Don't you realize what that means?"

Yoh thought about it some more. To tell you the truth he never even heard of Cadm from Shilva or any of the other Patches. But now that he thought about it, the only Patch member he never heard of besides Cadm was Jane, but that was because before Anna revived her she was…Yoh's eyes grew in realization of what Anna meant by this. He turned to look at her, and she, with her eyes away form his gaze, nodded slowly.

"Hai. All the people in this city are going to die…because of me."

_**VRRROOOOOOOONNNNNOOOONNOOOONN**_

Yoh's head turned at the sound of a siren nearby, Anna just looked at the ground, her arms crossed out in front of her. Yoh shifted his body to view where the cacophonous sound came from. He then suddenly realized that he and Anna where in front of the school, just on the gates of the campus. He saw students running out of the school and jumbling up in larges crowds.

Yoh turned to look at Anna, her face into a blank stone, smooth yet expressionless. Yoh took her by the hand and pulled her into the school campus with him. To his surprise, she didn't protest, she just let Yoh drag her as if she was some lifeless creature.

It wasn't so hard to get through the crowd, seeing as since they were in spirit form, all they had to do was just go right through the pile of people. Then they made it to the doors of the school where almost about every student was standing. Both shamans could hear all the whispers being said in the mass of students.

"How bad was it? Were all of them killed?"

"I heard the students just saw a bunch of things being thrown around."

"And in the locker rooms too."

"How much blood?"

"The floor was covered in red."

"I heard Kyoyama-chan fainted from the sight of all the blood."

"Hai. Right in the hallway too. Sensei called Edward-sama saying something about a headache and by the time she was down the hallway…blood."

"What about that other girl who asked to go to the bathroom?"

Yoh stopped listening and began skimming through all the students, searching for any sights of Edward, Misaka, or Anna-chan. He couldn't find any of them; he turned to Anna who did nothing but just stare blankly at all the students around her.

He walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Anna, listen to me." He ordered as nicely as he could, she stared him dead in the eyes. "This doesn't change a thing, okay? But tell me, where is your younger self?"

Anna blankly gazed at Yoh in the eyes; she didn't hesitate to give him an answer "Over there." She pointed to the right wing of the school. She began walking in that direction, her arms crossed tightly against her chest, and her eyes turning cold, in order to prepare herself for one of her memories.

Yoh followed from behind; when Anna stopped Yoh walked a few steps ahead, noticing that Anna's now cold eyes didn't pull away from the scene in front of them. Yoh looked back and warmly said, "You don't have to see this, Anna."

Anna rolled her eyes, "I've seen it once before, Yoh, and I was _seven_. Besides…this is nothing compared to what you will see later on…that is, _if_ I'll let you stay."

Yoh smiled and then prepared himself to see how the small version of his wife was doing, he slowly turned and almost forgot to breath.

There on the steps of the left wing of the school was Edward, sitting on the steps with Anna-chan in his arms. He had some red stains on his arms, it was until Yoh looked at the blonde in his arms that he realized why.

Anna-chan had her arms propped up on Edward's knees, her head resting on them. Her uniform was completely filled with dust, rubble, and blood. Her eyes were open and Yoh could see they were cold, cold and almost lifeless.

'_It happened again...why?...why do I do this?'_ Yoh heard her ask in her head.

Yoh felt a strong aching pain in his chest, the pain was worse than when he saw Yui's cold dead body; this time more people lost their lives. How did he know?

He turned to his right and could see all the students in form of spirits, each one completely confused as to why they were dead.

"Hai. Another mysterious murder…iie it's not mysterious anymore…I saw it with my own eyes…well, come and see yourself then."

Yoh saw Anna clench her hands into two tight fists when the voice was heard, she was glaring at someone, Yoh followed her gaze. He looked around and saw a student talking on a cell phone. He eyed the girl, she had long dark orange hair that placed up in two high pig tails. She was young, about Anna-chan's age, with big round and bright lavender-grey eyes.

The girl hung up the cell phone and looked around, Yoh noticed that her clothes were also stained in blood. There was something about her, she seemed…different.

Yoh watched as the girl walked over to Edward and Anna-chan, Anna-chan lifting her head up when sensing new thoughts approaching.

"Ano…" the girl said in a sweet voice, "I don't know much of this place, seeing as I'm as new as you may be, but I was wondering...could we…become friends? Since we are both new–if you want to I mean."

Yoh frowned; the girl was obviously a fake, why of all people would she just go up to Anna-chan? And what was she saying on the phone? _"I saw it with my own eyes?"_

Yoh began to get a really bad feeling about this girl, and for some reason Oyamada Mansumi came to mind.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yoh saw Anna turn on her feet and begin to walk away. "Uh-Anna!" he called after her.

She turned and Yoh saw that her eyes were cold, yet burning with anger, but they soften themselves at seeing his worried expression.

"We're leaving, come on." She softly ordered, her voice barely above the whisper of the wind.

He felt it was better to leave, but he didn't feel like leaving the small Anna there when she was in shock.

"I went through it like that before, Yoh. You aren't going to change anything."

She began walking first, after a few seconds Yoh walked with her, his mind on Anna-chan. _'School just resulted to be another one of those things that troubled Anna.'_ He firmly stated in his mind.

How hard was it to figure out what had happened? She was locked up in a room where many students were at, students in their teens that, out of all the ages, have more wishes than any other age. So Anna-chan got one of her head aches and just moments after she left the room…_**BAM**_! An oni appears, causes mischief and then disappears.

Yoh frowned as he imagined all those poor people…dead, he began to pick up his pace a bit as his thoughts continued on. At this age Anna was way too young to see so many people dying in front of her, but it made perfect sense to him, it's the same thing as Ren. Both grew up in a place full of death causing cruelty to each one's heart, almost shutting out the whole world, wishing for it to be destroyed.

Yoh turned to look at Anna and finally noticed he was walking some steps in front of her. She was walking fast to keep up, but her steps were hesitant, and her eyes just view almost everything in town _except_for him.

Yoh stopped dead in his tracks and held out a hand, Anna flinched in surprise and Yoh just smiled. "I said it didn't change anything, right?"

Anna slowly placed her hand into his, Yoh wrapping his hand around two of her smooth gentle fingers. Then they continued to walk, Yoh with a smile on his face which was caused by the fact he now got his wish and Anna was with him.

In spirit form, it didn't take long before Yoh finally led them to Cadm's house, Yoh just went right through the door and brought Anna along with him. He saw Cadm at the table eating along with Ohachiyo.

Cadm spotted him and smiled. "Ah, Yoh-sama, just in time for lunch! Come, sit down my friend there's plenty to eat."

Yoh noticed Cadm didn't seem to notice Anna one bit, it was as if she was invisible to him. Yoh shook his head and said, "No thanks, I'm not that hungry."

Ohachiyo choked on a piece of fish.

"Did something happen?" Cadm asked, as Ohachiyo struggled to get himself a drink of water, chugging the whole cup of water down.

"Did your chibi wife get mad at you or something?" Ohachiyo joked as soon as was able to breathe again, daring to put another bite of fish in his mouth.

A vein popped on Anna's forehead. "_Chibi wife_?" she ragingly asked, her teeth grinding roughly against each other.

Yoh looked at the wall, trying to avoid Anna's evil death glare. "Iie, another oni appeared." He told Ohachiyo. Cadm's brows shot up instantly as Yoh went on, "It killed a classroom full of students."

The Patch scratched his chin as he took this in. "I see." He mumbled to himself, "This is getting more troublesome. She needs to be purified, but there is no way to take her down to Mu…"

Yoh blinked as he felt Anna tighten her two fingers in his hand. "Purify?" he asked, having the urge to sit down, but he didn't want to let go of Anna at the moment.

"Oh, you don't know do you? Well seeing as you're the Shaman King I'm sure you must have been passed the plant of Lake, am I right?" –Yoh nodded- "Well that water is used when we must cleanse the queen of all evil. She is to go into the water and rest in it for a few hours, giving her knowledge and tinting her eye color red, to symbolize the blood shed during the future Shaman Fights."

Yoh began to wonder if Annaka-san had ever been purified, seeing as her eyes were blood red, but he didn't seem to want to ask, he knew _Anna_ wasn't purified, her eyes were always that cold olive color which she kept it.

He just nodded in understanding and said he wasn't feeling well, Cadm let him go up to his borrowed room.

Yoh walked up the stairs, still holding Anna's two fingers in his hand, pulling her along with him. She didn't say a word, not until Yoh took her into the room and shut the door from behind them.

"Why?" she asked. Turning her back to him and kneeling down to the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her head on her arms.

Yoh blinked, not having a clue to what Anna was asking him. He took a step closer to her and she buried her head in her arms and yelled. "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE WITH ME!"

Yoh furrowed his brows together, he was lost in Anna's question, he took another step towards her, now placing a hand on her shoulder, which calmed her a bit to his touch. "Anna…"

"Yoh, didn't you see what I had done?" she asked, not daring to look at him. Behind her Yoh gave a soft smile.

"Hai I saw." He calmly responded, "I know now where you're going with this, and no, I'm not mad Anna. You want me to not forgive you for killing innocent people, right?"

He saw Anna slowly shake her head. Yoh walked until he was right beside Anna, then sat on the ground beside her. "Well it's easier to forgive you." –Anna jerked her head and yelled 'What?'– "What did I tell you five years ago, Anna? I like being carefree so when I see you troubled and sad, I just can't leave it like that. And me _not_ forgiving you won't help you one bit."

Anna clenched her fist and slammed them at Yoh's sides bringing her face inches to his, Yoh thought she was about to slap him, but when she lowered her head he had doubts about it. "Why do you have to be so damn forgiving, Yoh?" she asked him, bringing her head up to look at him.

Yoh took the chance to softly brush his lips on Anna's, making her eyes grow wide, she opened her mouth to say something but Yoh interrupted her. "I know it stills bother you, Anna. So I'm just going to forgive you. After all, _I'm_ the one that wants to know what happened so…I'm staying."

Anna looked down. "You're not going to like what you see." She whispered, "Remember _everyone_in this town is going to die." Her tone turned cold once more and Yoh knew he won, how did he know? Anna was back to normal…for now.

"You're the one who said death is a part of life." He told her as-a-matter-of-factly. Then he leaned back on his futon, bringing Anna down on the futon with him. She ended up on top of him, her head on his chest, she glared at Yoh, who just smiled and said, "I missed this too."

Both of them gave a small blush, but Yoh's was less noticeable because of his grin, but since Anna's face was blank he could see the tints of pink on her cheeks. "Idiot." She mumbled once more. Then she raised her head and lifted a brow. "Yoh, you don't expect me to sleep in this dress, do you?"

Yoh looked at her, she was wearing the same black dress she always did, Yoh thought for a moment and sighed, "Take my yukata." He told her pointing to the robe hanging on a wall nearby.

Anna stood and walked over to the wall and yanked the yukata off the hook it hanged off of. Then she began taking her dress off and Yoh let out a yelp. "Anna, don't change in front of me!" he yelled, his face turning the color of a tomato, he grabbed his pillow and placed it over his face.

Anna rolled her eyes and continued changing, "You act as if you've never seen me undress before." She complained.

Yoh muffled some words into the pillow, still not wanting to show his face. Anna tied her yukata and bent down to look at him. "What was that?" she asked out of uttermost curiosity.

Yoh lifted his head from the pillow and gave a sheepish grin when Anna saw his red face. "I said it was only once."

Anna crossed her arms in front of her, "So you need to see me more than once to feel comfortable?" she asked irritably.

Yoh looked away, his face turning –if possible– darker shades of red. "Ano…lets not talk about this anymore." He mumbled his breath, then in a louder voice he added, "Oi, I'm going to rest for a while."

"It's still evening, Yoh. The sun hasn't even set."

"Hai, but I'm tired either way." Yoh complained, already bringing his covers over his body and placing his head on his pillow.

Anna let out a sigh and set her head on the pillow beside Yoh. Yoh just beamed triumphantly and closed his eyes. "Oyasumi, Anna."

"It's still evening, Yoh."

"Ah, gomen. Konichiwa Anna."

"Konichiwa, Yoh."

Kino took a sip of water and placed the cup on the table. "I'm sensing most of you are not happy with the decision of keeping Nianna around."

Tao En crushed the cup in his hand. "She could be a great threat! There must be a reason to why Goldva wanted her dead."

Tao Ran patted her husband's arm. "Watch it, En. Stress is bad for your health."

"I am also not comfortable with the situation." Yohmei protested, slamming his wrinkly fist on the table and Kino hitting that hand with her cane.

"I do not since any evil from that girl, so there is nothing to dispute about. Is there, my stupid husband?" she asked raising her voice and changing it to a more menacing tone.

Keiko simply got one of Ran's fans and swayed it back and forth, cooling herself as she spoke. "I do not have the least bit of trouble with the girl. In fact, I'm quite fond of her and Annaka, considering they remind me of Anna of course."

Ran nodded her head, also fanning herself with one of her big frilly pink fans. "But, those three she carries around with her…_Sora_guimi, is it? They seem too…perfect to be considered normal, no?"

"Jealous, my daughter?" Tao Ching laughed while taking a sip of his tea. Ran placed a hand on her cheek, gave an innocent smile, and softly whacked her father on his bald head.

"Perfect or not." Mikihisa added to the conversation, "Their character seems a bit _old fashion_ to be in this era."

"Point not taken." Kino told them, bringing her cup of tea to her mouth. "We shall not do anything." She took a sip from her cup. _'Unless of course, they are a threat to us.'_

Yoh began walking down the stairs, taking each step slowly to make sure he would not fall because of his drowsiness. He had had slept great last night, it was up there with the-night-before-America night. Why? Because Anna had slept by him, and it calmed him to know that she was with him again.

But when he woke up Anna wasn't in the futon with him anymore, the yukata she used was on the floor in front of the bathroom door so Yoh guessed she must have already woken up.

As Yoh came down the smell of something really good came to him, making walk faster to see what it was, when he got to the kitchen he smiled.

Anna was at the stove wearing an apron and her hair was pulled back, she was placing some food into a tiny tester to taste it. Yoh came from behind and slowly wrapped his arms around her small waist.

"Ohayo, Anna!" he cheerfully said as he placed his head on her shoulder, watching her as she continued to cook.

"You're finally awake, Yoh. What took you so long?" she asked blankly as she kept on fixing the food in front of her, which was turning to look like an amazing cuisine.

He gave her a soft smile, "I just slept really good last night!"

Anna roll her eyes, "Maybe next time I shouldn't sleep with you so you can learn to wake up in the morning." She told him. Yoh blinked, not understanding what she meant by that, Anna explained it to him.. "It's 1700 Yoh. You slept for twelve hours."

"AH! Did I really!" Yoh exclaimed, letting go of Anna and turning to view the clock behind him.

Anna looked at him as if he were crazy. "Is that really such a surprise, Yoh? You sleep in all the time." She stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

Yoh frowned, then looked at the food on the table and smiled as he sat down and picked up his chopsticks. "I never thought you could cook, Anna." He admitted, taking a bit of donburi and popping it into his mouth, the food being so heavenly that he savored each bite.

Anna shrugged, taking her seat beside Yoh and taking a serving of korokke and placing it on her rice bowl. "We always had Ryu and Tamao to cook so what was the point?" she asked, little pieces of rice entering her small mouth.

"Yeah, but they don't cook as great as you do." Yoh told her, now stuffing his mouth with tempura, and chugging it down with water.

Anna smiled behind the rice bowl that covered the lower half of her face, there was silence as the both of them ate their lunch, Yoh stuffing his mouth and savoring each bite, and Anna curtly eating hers.

Yoh began looking at the walls as he ate, his eyes gazing over each thing that hanged on them, his eyes stopped as he viewed the calendar, it read December 24th.

"Tomorrow is Christmas." He said in awe, eying the calendar and suddenly making plans in his head.

Anna followed his gaze to the calendar. "Looks like it." She agreed.

Yoh frowned as he thought of something, how did he not notice the date until now? "You know Anna we have never really done any of the Christmas traditions…"

"You are not dressing like a fat guy in a red suit as if you were an American." Anna remarked, her eyes furrowing together as she said those words to him.

Yoh sweat dropped, "Iie, not that. I meant…" *blush* "I meant spending a romantic evening together like a normal couple…" he said in a low skittish voice.

Though Anna's face was unreadable Yoh saw a line of ghostly pink spread on her cheeks. "Oh." Was all she said. "I don't think we could do that well."

"Why not?"

Anna put down her bowl and sighed, "Because…something is going to happen tomorrow with…my younger self."

"With Anna-chan?" Yoh asked, a little aghast that something bad would ever occur on Christmas. "What's going to happen?" he gulped.

Anna stood from the table, placed her bowl in the sink, and began washing the dishes. "You'll find out tomorrow, but pack your things, we're going to Kyouto tomorrow. That's where it's all taking place."

"Kyouto? Ah, that place is great." Yoh eyes got soft, "My family went to Kyouto once, it was the only time we were together as a family, Mum, Dad, and I…"

Anna noticed how Yoh's voice softly trailed off and saw the sweet and warm images in his head. "You rode the swan boats too?"

Yoh nodded. "Hai, ever since then I've kinda had a liking to swans." He admitted to her, then he looked at her as she scrubbed a plate. "Anna since when do you wash the dishes."

Anna stopped scrubbing and Yoh saw a small vein popped on her forehead, "Would you rather wash them Yoh?" she asked irritably.

"I-iie, it's just that…usually you make me do them." He said stuffing the last of his food in his mouth.

"Well you're supposed to be living an easy life from now on."

"So are you." Yoh reminded her.

Anna rolled her eyes. "This is the only time I'm going to wash them, it's not going to kill me."

"Okay then, Anna."

Anna continued washing the dishes, then she became lost in her thoughts, trying hard to remember what happened on tomorrow's date eight years ago, but her mind was blank, only a few sketchy images came to place together. "Yoh?"

"Hai?" he muffled through his mouth of stuffed some incredibly tasting yakitori.

"I…I-don't…remember much of what's going to happen tomorrow." She admitted, a bit angered by the thought that her memory was falling her at the moment.

Yoh blinked and put down the yakitori. "What do you mean Anna?"

"It's all very sketchy and ghostly. I only remember going to Kyouto and…waking up in the hospital and…someone being dead."

Yoh stood from the table and placed his empty bowl in the sink and gave Anna a smile. "Guess we'll both find out tomorrow, huh?"

Anna nodded and kept her eyes on the plates, scrubbing hard, while trying not to leave any scratches. Yoh stretched and said, "I'm going to go and visit Anna-chan, then on the way back I'll tell Cadm to bring some food from the café he works at." –He turned to Anna- "Do you want to come with me?" He asked her.

The blonde shook her head, strands of hair falling on her face. "I'd rather not go to that house." She said curtly but with a hint of incensed irk.

Yoh nodded in understandment then he brushed the strands of blonde off of Anna's face, then he took the advantage and quickly kissed her on her lips, Anna wincing in surprise. Then Yoh pulled away and grinned.

"I'll be back as soon as I can!" he called out as he headed for the door.

When he left Anna gave a soft smile, but her eyes then began losing themselves once more in her thoughts.

"I lie here in the frozen water that falls from the dark midnight sky, on a small bridge that is the same color as the liquid that is gushing out from my back. The snow I lie on is not white anymore; but still cold against my skin. It is now red snow, the color of a scarlet ibis, the color of the bridge and the liquid. There is an object glistening behind me, a blade, a blade which is held by the one that put me in the position I am in. I look at the red snow and see my long locks of sunshine floating on the red liquid, it too was cut from that one time I had trusted the person behind me. And this is how I am. But now my breathe is leaving me, and I can feel the wind calling me, mocking me for my childish stupidity. As I wait for my last breathe to come I vow never to trust again, I will trust and love no more, I will hate all of _his_ kind. Those who are nothing more than humans who destroy what they do not understand. I hear whispers behind me and I hear a copter coming down onto the pure white snow. I close my eyes and finally realize the pain is gone, and my last breathe is not coming. I believe it to be a New Years miracle or it could be luck or Kami-sama's will. But though _my_ last breathe isn't coming, for these people who have hurt me…their last breathe is on its way."

Anna let out a sigh as she finished those words, the memory of those words led her to say one thing. "Idiot. The end of this town shall come on New Years. I am an Idiot for not remembering the date. But tomorrow leads to the events. But that does not change the fact that I am an idiot for forgetting when I want to remember."

* * *

_**History's Flames;**_

_**Chapter Eleven**_

Mikihisa placed his bowl of miso soup on the table and clear his throat, his eyes on one of the new comers at the end of the table. "Nianna-chan," –Nianna raised her head– "We'll have to make some arrangements for you to stay. Such as fake papers, ID's, stuff like that and also-"

A folder was thrown right in Mikihisa's face, when it gently fell on the table he took it in his hands and opened it.

"That will be all you need for her stay at the Funbari Inn." Arisu informed across the table. "It contains all the things you will need."

"Impressive." Mikihisa muttered to himself, his eyes growing as he looked at the well forged papers that were inside the folder. "How did y'all come up with such well forged papers?"

Wilhelmina took a sip of her tea and placed it down. "When it comes to making images look real, I have a specialty for that." She responded, the sides of her lips curving into a sort of secretive grin.

Mikihisa didn't notice, he just kept on muttering to himself how well made the documents were.

Emmetto looked across the table over to Nianna, his face grim. "_We_won't be staying." He told her, "It'd be best if we didn't…for some of you at least."

Nianna nodded, not looking very interested. "No one is making you stay. Leave at your own will."

"On the contrary," Nagehiko's bass voice spoke up, making everyone at the table turn to him, "Asakura will _make_ you stay, one way or the other, so you'll three will have to wait a while."

Emmetto smirked and a look of pride appeared on his face. "Asakura Hao has no power over me, Nagehiko." He smugly remarked.

They all heard Nagehiko chuckle, it was so smooth and perfect, making many wonder what his visage was like. "I never said it was Asakura _Hao._"

That shut the blonde up immediately, but his grim look never left his face. Tamao looked at him and blushed as she opened her mouth to speak then closed it, she pulled out her sketchbook and wrote on that instead.

Emmetto jerked his head up to look at Wilhelmina beside him, she pointed with her eyes in Tamao's direction, and he followed her gaze.

**We have plenty of rooms back at the future Funbari Inn you all could stay at.**

Emmetto raised a brow and the girl immediately flinched and wrote some more.

**But don't feel obligated to! It's just an offer! Do as you wish!**

The blonde boy turned to the pixie girl on the other side of him, she seemed dazed for a few seconds then a stunning grin crept up her face, she turned to Emmetto and cheerfully announced, "We're staying!"

While the shamans kept on talking the women of the two shaman houses, Asakura Keiko and Tao Ran, were eyeing the team known as Soraguimi. They just couldn't find it easy to believe that those three were 'human'.

They were quite stunning, too stunning as a matter of fact. The blacked haired girl was amazingly delicate and fair, her black hair spiked on its edges yet it perfectly framed her pale face. She was well built but not much, just enough for her age, which seemed to be fifteen years, the same as most of the shaman at the table.

The boy was a sight, a gorgeously handsome man. Strong muscles, a tall and leaner body, radiant blonde hair, dazzling golden eyes that distracted you from his also pale face. What they found peculiar about him was the fact that he seemed much older than he appeared, it was his seriousness, it added about six years to his character, but physically he appeared the same age as the pixie girl beside him.

Now the real sight was the Chinese red-head to his left. Her hair was a smooth mess of dark blood red curls and waves that gently framed her pale face and brought out her golden eyes. This girl was _very_well built, her size was up there with Tao Jun and Bismark Kanna. Her age seemed to be around there too, she was obviously the older one of the three and probably the most stunning one out of all of them.

They were so stunning they did not even seem of this time period. Why? Because of the way the dressed and acted. So proper but yet not of this time…

**(A/N: Y'all know how I love guessing games but note that Ran and Keiko say that Soraguimi don't seem 'human'. Meaning their appearance is way too perfect. Who else has an 'unhuman' appearance? Anna, Annaka, and Nianna. And they are all 'inhuman-like' due to the fact they are Shaman Queens. So that tells you that Soraguimi are not regular shamans either. One more thing, Soraguimi also**_**all**_**have pale faces and golden eyes, saying they are the same kinds of 'inhuman' people. WELL ON WITH THE STORY!)**

"Lyserg-kun, you're bleeding." The pixie girl told the green haired boy in front of her, pointing to his arm.

Lyserg looked down at his arm, indeed his arm was bleeding, the red paint was practically tinting his white shirt. "Ah, my wounds must have opened up!" he said standing up and taking a bow. "Suminasen, I will go wash up immediately!"

Everyone followed the British boy with their eye as he hurried out of the room.

"Oh," The face of Faust suddenly became a look of concern, "it has already begun..." He said slowly.

"W-what has begun?" the vertically challenged boy beside Tamao with a muffled voice, his body shaking as Faust's expression changed.

Silence reigned room... Faust lowered his head, shadowed his eyes and muttered under his hair... "The end…OF EVERYONE!"

"NNNNAAAANNNII!" all of those present simultaneously cried.

The dark face of the doctor changed immediately...

"It's a joke." Faust cheerfully chuckled.

All the shaman fell back to the bad joke of the doctor; all except Manta who fainted instead, his black humor definitely was not to the liking of those present.

**(A/N: *imagines story as an anime and rolls over laughing*)**

Chocolove stomped his foot on the table and pointed a piece of chicken at Faust, frantically waving it up and down. "Hey, I'm the only one who does the jokes around here!" he annoyingly protested.

Faust gave a lazy but cheerful smile. "Anyone can tell a joke, of course yours is not as funny as mine."

"WHAT WAS SO FUNNY ABOUT IT!" the dark shaman asked, his foot still on the table.

The lazy smile never left the doctor's face. "The fact that everyone was so scared."

Ryu began laughing as the thoughts of everyone's expressions popped into his head. "Hahaha, hai, even The Taos seemed scared by Faust's joke."

The room began to fill with cacophonic arguments and protests, while others such as Tamao were tending to the one who fainted.

"Manta-kun?" she worriedly called, looking down at him with Amidamaru hovering over her calling, "Manta-dono?"

"Why do all of you people have to be so NOISY!" a booming ringing voice shouted out through the entrance of the dining room.

The room instantly became silent at hearing the voice, then a strong bass like laugh was heard. "Haha, you guys are amusing. It's only Annaka, no Anna present here." He laughed his butt off. "You guys are too much." He said, placing two fingers on his forehead and shaking his head back and forth.

"Are you kidding?" Horohoro piped up, his hand on his chest to feel his rapid breathing, "As a regular person it's normal for everyone to be afraid of Anna."

Hao raised a brow, "Yoh and I weren't." he proudly stated.

Horo rolled his eyes and rested his head on his arm, "Well you and Yoh are a bunch of lovesick bastards." He huffed

Jeanne got up from her position on the table and took a small bow, "Suminasen, but I will go and check what is taking Lyserg awhile."

She left with a small smile, causing both Horohoro and Ryu to become dazed by her illuminant smile. The others just rolled their eyes, Hao and Annaka both smirked, each knowing they were both thinking the same thing...

Maybe those two could finally open up their hearts to each other.

Lyserg dabbed his wounds with a warm towel, the water on the towel fell his on his wounds, giving him a small wince of pain. His shirt was full of blood so he threw it on the floor as he tried to clean his injuries. He kept dabbing but the blood wouldn't stop flowing.

'_Strange,'_he thought to himself_, 'my wounds have never taken so long to heal.'_

"Lyserg?"

The towel fell out of his hand as The Maiden's voice startled him, he turned to see her standing at the doorway, a sort of worried look on her soft looking face.

"Ah! J-Jeanne-sama! What are you doing here?" the green haired shaman stuttered, embarrassed by the fact his leader was seeing him there without his shirt.

But Jeanne seemed as if she paid no attention to that, instead she looked at Lyserg straight in the eyes. "Does it hurt?" she softly asked, coming over to him and touching the wounds on his arm.

Lyserg winced, not only because the wounds did indeed hurt, but also because he was under Jeanne's gentle touch. He blushed a bit, then took a step back, to keep distance. Jeanne noticed this and slightly frowned, but it was unnoticeable to the male.

"Ano…it doesn't hurt that much Jeanne-sama, it'll eventually heal itself so no need to worry." He quickly responded, trying his best to smile.

"It doesn't appear to be healing."

"Ano…it might take awhile…" he wasn't so sure of this answer, but he knew Jeanne would try to use her furyoku to try to heal his wounds, but he felt himself unworthy of that.

"I could heal them for you." The young girl said, a smile going up onto her face. She took a few steps towards him and gave him one of her illuminating grins. "I have no problem with it." She cheerfully told him.

In the brightness of the light that flooded the room at the moment, Lyserg could not tear his eyes away from Jeanne. Her silvery hair flowed down in subtle waves, accenting the dark, black gown she wore. The gown itself was demure, not exposing any skin, making many know that the maiden wearing it was delicate and refined. Not a wrinkle marred the beauty of her image. But looking into her crimson eyes, Lyserg felt, just a little stronger than before, and yet, her eyes themselves were clouded too…as if by pain…or just caution.

But he was not worthy of being her follower, her ally, anything, and he surly did not feel worthy of having her.

Lyserg's lips twisted into a saddened smile. "They'll heal on their own, Jeanne-sama, no need to waste your furyoku on me." He said to her softly.

Jeanne lowered her head. "That makes me sad…you…you think it's a waste for me to help you." She hoarsely said.

"Jeanne-sama, I-"

"Agh!" the maiden suddenly felt a sharp pain on her back, an usual pain but familiar pain. She had felt it before, on their first stay in America with Nianna. But why was it coming back?

"Jeanne-sama! Are you okay?" the green haired rushed over to the girl's side, placing a hand on her back, her back was wet, wet with blood.

It seemed like she too wouldn't stop bleeding, the blood just flowed back, practically drenching her entire back. Lyserg knew that he should first remove the clothing away from the wound and then add pressure, but he couldn't bring himself to just rip the clothes off her.

But another wince of pain from the maiden under him caused him to give in. he placed his shaking hands on the clothing that covered her back and ripped only the place where the blood seemed to come from.

'_That wound…'_ he thought to himself as he eyed the hole on her back, it was a little below her shoulder and it was small, but deep. Its shape was one of an arrow head.

But why did it seem to remind him of something? Something he felt like he'd seen before…

"_Are you alright?" a soft kind voice asked._

_A green haired boy opened his eyes and sat up, he scratched his head feeling a sharp pain in his back. "Ow."_

"_Hmm you still seem to be in some pain." The soft voice analyzed._

_The boy looked up and was stunned by what he saw._

_There before him stood a beautiful girl with long locks of silverish-blue hair and stunningly warm ruby eyes. She smiled sweetly at the boy._

"_Is he alright?" a voice from behind the angellike girl had asked._

_The boy's eyes led him to see a tall girl with super short blond hair, all spiked and unruly, and with smooth ocean eyes._

_The angel turned to ocean girl. "Just a little pain left."-She turned to the boy-"You'll be fine on your own when I'm done."_

_A strange creature appeared it was blue with what appeared to be a tall metallike crown on its head._

_The boy's eyes grew. A spirit._

_The angel smiled "I'm glad you can see my guardian ghost, I would not wish for you to take this event as a human would."_

_She leaned in close to the boy as the spirit seemed to disappear inside her; she cupped the green haired boy's face. "When you'll wake up I'll leave a small gift with you, so you will not be alone."_

_She leaned in a bit more leaving little space between them, before she closed off the whole space the boy opened his mouth, "Is there a way I can thank you?"_

_She looked at him and smiled "I have no need to be thanked, but if you wish to thank me there is one thing…do not avenge your parents' death, do not blame the humans that burned them alive and move on."_

"_My parents?" the boy asked._

_The angel moved in and in a second her lips touched his. He felt warmth and the pain he had before left completely. As his eyes seemed to become heavy he heard her voice once again._

"_Once more thing, please stay away from the fire and do not get burned."_

_With that she turned her back to him and walked away the short haired blond following behind._

_Then his eyes gave in as he slept._

"_You seem to be eyeing that Maiden a bit too much, don't you think?"_

_A green haired boy turned to see a long haired brunette looking at with a sort of smug look on his face. The green haired boy blushed and looked back to continue viewing the girl that caught his eye. "She is stunning, Hao-sama."_

"_Not to mention stubborn." Hao added, walking right next to the boy. "You'd think a maiden with such beauty and 'pureness' would stop thinking of putting an end to me." He laughed._

_The boy on the other didn't laugh, his emerald eyes were glued to the perfect maiden that gracefully walked through all the other shamans at the festival. Hao shook his head and opened his mouth to say something to his lovesick follower._

"_Why not as her to dance?" Hao asked. As much as he did disliked that woman he had to let his followers enjoy the most they could of their small lives, after all not all of them were bound to survive the shaman fights._

_The green haired boy let out a sigh, "She's with someone else."_

_Hao finally glance over to where the boy was looking at, indeed the maiden that the boy looked at was occupied, but by a Patch female with long blonde hair. Hao furrowed his eyebrows, then a grin came up on his face. "How about I distract the blonde and you just ask that girl to dance?"_

_The boy blushed so deeply that it entirely contrasted with the color of his hair. "That isn't necessary, Hao-sama."_

"_And why is that?"_

"_I am not pure enough to even touch her."_

"_Y-you…you joined Asakura Hao." The maiden said in a soft voice. She took some steps away from him, her crimson eyes growing in disbelief. "Why?"_

_the green haired boy lowered his head, his voice was sad and low. "He can help me get rid of the ones who killed my parents. Those heartless humans who burned the entire house with them inside."_

"_That is no excuse!" the girl yelled, placing her pale palms on his shoulder as tears began to form at her eyes.__"I told you to stay away from the fire, you didn't listen!"_

"_He's not a bad person."_

"_You're right…he's the uttermost evil."_

"_He helps shamans live their dream of a world without the people who hurt him!"_

_The silver haired girl looked into the boy's green eyes, she began to pull away from him, he wrapped his arms around her before she could move away. "You were brain washed as well." She darkly stated, her eyes being shadowed by her bangs so all you could see were her stream of tears coming down her face. "I thought you were different. I thought you could be the one who suffered and_wouldn't _go to the side of evil, the side of revenge."_

"_But-"_

"_Urusai!" she commanded, if it wasn't for the loud music of the festival she was sure someone would have heard her by now. But the music was so loud, nothing could be heard. She struggled to get out of his tight embrace, but he didn't let her. "Let me go! I never wish to see you again!"_

_then what he did next was a surprise for the both of them, he pulled her closer and brought her lips to his._

"Lyserg snap out of it!" someone yelled at the British boy, causing him to return his attention to the injured maiden in his arms.

In front of him, at the doorway, were Hao and Annaka, both looking at the two X-Laws on the ground that bled. Annaka's eyes were normal but they had some hidden emotion inside them, knowledge? She walked over to Lyserg, Lyserg raised his head to watch her and she knelt down beside him and Jeanne, the blood from the both of them getting on her dress.

Lyserg knew she wasn't going to ask what had happened, just by searching his mind both Hao and Annaka would know that Jeanne just began to bleed for no reason.

"What do we do?" Lyserg asked the blonde. Annaka kept on searching his head, then Lyserg heard a chuckle from Hao.

Hao walked over to them and also knelt down, Jeanne looked at Lyserg with a look of pain, then she looked at Hao with disgust. Hao on the other head just smirked.

"This isn't so hard." He answered. Then with one hand he grabbed the back of Lyserg's head and the back of Jeanne's head too. Both of them blinked in confusion, and Annaka looked blanked but amused by her husband's actions.

Then Hao pushed their heads together until their lips collided together. Both Jeanne and Lyserg turned red as they felt each other's lips on theirs. They would have instinctively pulled away except Hao's hands were strongly pushing their heads together.

"All done." Hao announced to the two X-Laws, smirking and trying his best not to laugh at their expressions filled with awe, horror, and daze.

Lyserg was the first to react.

"ARE YOU MAD?" he shouted out in horror of the event that had just occurred. His eyes were completely wide and burning with rage.

Hao calmly just rested his body against the wall and sat down with his arms behind his head. He closed his eyes as Lyserg kept on yelling at him. "Don't act as if you didn't enjoy it, Lyserg." He opened one eye, "You and I both know part of you was wishing this sort of event."

Lyserg closed his mouth and blushed clutching the pocket which held his gun. "What makes you suggest such a thing?" he muttered questionably, "For my lips to touch Jeanne-sama's…I am not worthy enough for it."

Jeanne was not paying attention to the boys' dispute, she just stayed where she was, completely shocked and dazed. She brought her fingers up to touch her lips and softly murmured, "Mon premier baiser." Then her small lips curled up into a soft gentile smile.

**(A/N: mon premier baiser = my first kiss.)**

Hao closed his eyes and smiled. "Just because you are not 'worthy' of kissing her doesn't mean you didn't have desires to."

Lyserg turned a darker shade of pink and clutched his gun tighter. "I never h-had any desires to…k-ki"

"-can't say it, Lyserg?" Hao teased, from across the room Annaka rolled her eyes. "It's not that hard, come on say it…_kissu_..._kissu._"

"Grrr…Hao!" Lyserg pulled out his gun and aimed it at Hao's head, he was about to pull the trigger when he felt a soft, pale hand on his, trying to push the gun down.

Lyserg turned and saw The Maiden's calm and gorgeous, pale face smiling up at him, Jeanne took the gun out of his hand and gave her aluminous grin. "No need to stress over such detail, Lyserg. I am fine with it."

Lyserg blushed. "H-hai." He stuttered.

Hao laughed as he stood up, shaking his head at the British X-Law. "You're too gullible." He laughed.

He made his way out the door with Annaka trailing behind him until Jeanne's voice stopped her.

"Annaka-san." –Annaka stopped dead in her tracks- "Why were we bleeding in such way?" the fair maiden asked the blonde.

Annaka stood still for a bit, Hao came back in the room and rested himself at the doorway, eyeing his wife with concern. Jeanne and Lyserg waited patiently.

To answer the silence, Hao cleared his throat and decided to speak instead. "It's your desires." He began. "A reincarnated soul cannot hide desires that have been put away for so long."

**(A/N: yea sorry for putting so many of these in this chapter but this chapter has valuable information that is important for the rest of the story, those of you who don't care, just don't read the author's note. Okay you all need to pay close attention to the following conversation.)**

"A reincarnated soul?" Jeanne asked, her red eyes sparkling with small interest. "You are trying to inform that are souls are…incarnated?"

Annaka nodded slowly, she didn't turn to face them, instead she placed her head on Hao's chest. "You two have the souls of two people we knew long ago. Believe it or not but no one can no your souls better than Hao and I. Hao knows Lyserg's soul and I know Jeanne's."

"That is impossible." Lyserg began protesting. "This man cannot know my soul, he killed my parents cold bloodedly!"

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Diethyl." Hao began, irritated by the protest of the British boy. "I went to your house searching for allies, people who shared my wishes of a perfect world without humans. When I saw your father I first thought of one thing…that _he_was that reincarnated spirit with you obtain. He refuse my offer and was about to kill me, even if I wouldn't have killed him before he would've risked his life to end mine. So I did more of a mercy killing."

"…"

Hao went on. "Then I saw you come through the door and I felt that reincarnated spirit of my previous ally. And I let you live because that soul you have was once a favorite ally of mine, you're lucky that I recognized it or else you too would be with your parents."

"Check your family tree, Diethyl Lyserg." Annaka ordered, her face still not facing them. "That soul you have belongs to the founder of the Diethyl dowser. But that is all I wish to tell you."

"What about me?" Jeanne asked. Annaka finally turned to view them, her red eyes hard and unreadable.

"I advise you to ask your mother. I'd rather not discuss this." She pulled her head off of Hao's chest and began to walk, she looked back at them and said one more thing before her and Hao left the two X-laws to their thoughts. "Those wounds you have come from your past life, they bleed like that when your desires for each other grow and nothing happens between you two…the same as those images you see of your past life. That kiss Hao made you two do is only temporary then you two will have other things to worry about…but of course…it is your decision for your life."

"They fell asleep pretty fast, and it's just morning." Pirika worried, looking at the three flowers spread out fast asleep on the couch.

Jun was fixing and making some modifications to Bailong's arm; she stopped turning the screw driver in her hand and looked over at the three tired figures on the couches. "Well, they were up late at the hot springs last night. Not to mention Kanna-chan cleaned the whole hot spring baths and Matilda-chan spent all her night's rest crying. The poor girls are tired."

"Hai, but Onichan and the others will be here soon and they're asleep." Pirika whined.

Jun smiled at the flowers, her eyes carefully analyzing each one's features of peaceful sleep. "They seem more peaceful when they close their eyes. But soon enough they'll awaken to the nightmare they believe to live in." –Macchi began rumbling around uncomfortably in her sleep-"Then again, when it comes to memories…there is really no safe place to hide from them."

Lyserg sat on the wide pathway of the Asakura Temple. He needed to really clear his thoughts at the moment. Did he have desires for Jeanne? I mean of course she is truly radiant in her beauty, a complete loss for words but…

Lyserg let out a sigh "Why am I stressing so much over this?"

"Because you are still young." A ringing voice answered him.

Lyserg looked back and saw Nianna walking down the long pathway over to him. Sitting down beside him with Hana in her arms. Lyserg turned his gaze to the ground. "I am the same age as you…so to say." he dully said.

"True…but your age of love isn't." she said looking up and the morning clouds that sailed softly through the blue sea above. "You are just now thinking of this, aren't you?"

"Hai."

"Then you are just now realizing what love is. I, on the other hand, have known it for a bit longer than you…only because it's a defect I have. I can't choose who I can or cannot love…but you can. As so can everyone else."

Lyserg turned his gaze forward, where he saw the road in front, he watched as Marco began stuffing the Iron Maiden in the back and helped Jeanne in the car. Then he looked back down at the dirt underneath his feet. "I can't have her…" he said aloud.

"And why is that?"

Lyserg didn't want to say his answer but he knew how right he was, the true reason why he could have her as anything more than his leader. "I am not worthy of her. I am…"

"Dirt can be cleaned with water, thought it'll always be dirt, water can still clean it." –Nianna responded. She looked at the child asleep in her arms then out of her pocket she pulled out an apple and bit into it.- "If you are not worthy of her, then who is? You're the closest thing to purity to her. You are her angel." –She took another bite of her apple as she waited for him to respond, when he didn't she added one more thing. - "Would you prefer Horohoro or Ryu to have her?"

Lyserg suddenly felt a jerk at his heart. Ryu or Horohoro with Jeanne-sama? "No." he stated firmly. At least he was sure of that much, but then didn't that mean he wanted to keep Jeanne for himself? Selfish? Maybe. True? Yes.

"Then no one other than you can have her."

Lyserg softly smiled, his eyes returning to the car, Jeanne met his gaze from the window and gave one of her smiles, Lyserg smiled back. Nianna looked at the two, hearing behind her everyone packing up to head for Funbari hill. She then saw Soraguimi standing like blank statues in a corner.

Arisu looked a bit annoyed, she glared at the car which held the maiden, then her eyes turned painful as she looked at the boy beside Nianna. Nianna slowly shook her head and turned her gaze back to the two love birds close to her.

_"All of them, every single one, are nothing but idiots."_

* * *

**DON'T. FORGET. TO. REVIEW.**


	12. A New Twist to Everything

**SHAMAN KING 300: DISASTER OF THE 500 YEARS**

**_CHAPTER 12: "A NEW TWIST TO EVERYTHING"  
_**

"Hmm, the mood is different then what I expected."

The heads of the ones who where on the living room couches raised and turned to gaze at the long hair brunette and the others behind him. Hao stood at the door with a rather mused look on his face as he rested his body against the wall. "Might I hear from your own mouths what the trouble seems to be?" he asked, as he straightened up and placed his hands in his pant's pockets.

Jun stood up from the couch and walked over to her brother, stopping only a few feet away. "Ren," she began, staring down at the floor, "…the flowers haven't said a word to us for a while now…we are not sure what's going on…" she trailed off, her eyes slowly moving to Hao.

Hao raised a brow at the same time Annaka frowned and sighed, "Just as Anna-san had expected from those three," she said in a bothered but curt tone, "to lock themselves up in their past due to what happens in the present." She raised a hand to touch her forehead and thought before turning to Manta. "Oyamada, come with me." She ordered.

Before Manta could answer, Annaka grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen. Tamao looked worried as her eyes followed behind the two of them, "Poor Manta-kun," she softly whispered to herself.

"Manta has been dragged and ordered by Anna, and even when Anna's gone he's still ordered around by someone similar to her." Horo pitied.

Hao slightly chuckled at the comment an turned his attention to the others in the room, "Where are the flowers anyway?" he asked, the question mostly seeming to go to his mother.

"It'd be best if you don't disturb them or the others at the moment, Asaha. There are some…complications due to those flowers."

Opacho, who stood beside Hao, frowned and tugged at Hao's pants. "Hao-sama, Opacho thinks The Flowers are upset over "the man thing."

Horohoro frowned, not getting the conversation; the others seemed just as clueless except for Luchist who just nodded. Ren pushed his way past Horo and angled his body towards Asanoha "What kind of complications do you mean?" he asked.

_**BANG!**_

_**BANG!**_

_**BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!!!!!!!!**_

Everyone raised their brows knowingly. "Oh~" they all said in unison. Chocolove grimaced as the gun shots kept coming from upstairs, he turned to Horohoro. "Are you not worried of your sister being up there with _Marion_?" he asked worriedly, jumping at the sound of another gun shot.

Horo shook his head. "Pirika can defend herself with that cowardly spirit of hers." Kororo appeared beside him and nudged him, giving him a small frown.

Annaka frowned as she came into the living room, Manta following behind, "What a weird looking spirit," she said after looking into Horo's head for an image of Pirika's spirit, "all he is is a green ball with eyes."

Hao smiled, "I wouldn't expect Pirika to even have a spirit," he added, making Horo mad.

He bit into his peach, "Well she doesn't use him at all. They're just friends, basically."

The room began to shake as the shaman heard more gunshots from upstairs.

_**BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

"IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!" Ryu shouted as he came running in the door, tripping over his own two feet, after picking himself up he ran over to the shaman yelling. "Why are you all sitting here like nothing is going on!?"

"It's only Marion's shooting, Ryu." Annaka said shaking her head. Why was she surrounded by idiots such as him?

Ryu sweat dropped and uncomfortably laughed. "Isn't that just as bad?" he asked, also taking a seat on a couch. "Earthquake, Marion. It's all the same as dangerous."

Faust sweat dropped as he came in, Eliza pushing his wheelchair from behind him. "That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think Ryu? Besides sooner or later the three flowers will be joining the Funbari Onsen staff as maids. I heard it from Manta-kun a while back." he lazingly said.

Before Ryu could answer, Jane interrupted him with a glare from her red eyes, "Where is my daughter?" she asked, her glare turning towards Hao.

Hao smirked, amused by the Patch's thoughts, "Yes Jane, she got to be annoying so I burned her to ashes. Now does that sound like me?" he asked innocently.

Jane gritted her teeth, "Yes Hao, it does."

Annaka bit into her apple and glared at the Patch, "Lay a finger on him, Jane, and I'll promise you someone will be burnt to ashes." She threatened.

Horo, Ryu, Chocolove, and Faust were on the edge of their seats, their eyes wide, readying themselves for a fight. Then the door busted open and in came the iron maiden, being pushed by Lyserg, who drenched in sweat.

Jane raised a brow, and the male shaman all sighed in disappointment. "Why are you pushing the iron maiden?" Asanoha asked, just as clueless as Jane.

Lyserg stepped in front of Marco, his hands in front of him. "Jane-sama, Asanoha-sama, please don't think of it like that. Pushing Jeanne-sama in the iron maiden has become an honor for me to do, so it really is no problem."

Jane looked at the green haired boy and examined him before becoming aware of something. "Why are thou shirtless, Lyserg?" she asked, noticing the boy's bare upper half.

Lyserg turned a bright red; "Ano…" the poor boy was clueless in how to explain the past scene. His shirt was all bloody from the wound from the scene before that he had to throw it away.

But the boy was saved by the ringing voice that came from the doorway. "So this is the famous Funbari Onsen?" it asked as it entered.

Eyes turned and viewed the strangers at the door, there stood Nianna, Nagehiko, Arisu, Wilhelmina, and Emmetto all of them calmly eyeing the inn.

Then in front of Nianna appeared an armored figure pointing its sword only centimeters away from her peach colored face. "Who are you?" a voice called from the stairs. Eyes turned to view Kanna as she came slowly down the stairs, her face cold. "I come to greet Lord Hao on his arrival and I see this Anna-sama imposter."

Nianna just stared at the sword that was so close to her, then she looked at Kanna. "Shouldn't you treat your costumers better?" she asked, a smirk appearing on her face.

Kanna glared at the girl, "This is no cosplay inn, so how about you high-tail your ass out of here?"

Nianna's eyes disappeared under her hair, "Why don't you bring it on, then?" she stated, fire practically burning behind her. Soraguimi and Nagehiko all stepped away from her in caution.

Ashcroft then felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned his head and saw Annaka beside him, glaring at him with her ruby eyes. "Enough." She ordered menacingly.

Ashcroft looked over at Kanna. Kanna looked at Annaka in anger. "But-"

Annaka turned her head and her eyes pierced through Kanna, "But what Kanna?" she asked, her tone clearly stating the German shaman needed a good excuse for her actions.

Kanna glared at Nianna, who smirked back. "Never mind," she mumbled calling Ashcroft back to her side. "Gomen, Lord Hao." She apologized, taking a bow in Hao's direction, not caring one bit of his blonde wife.

Annaka didn't seem to be bothered by this and simply turned to view Asanoha and Jane. "You two have been informed by Luchist about this, are I right?" she asked. Both Patch women nodded. "Good. Then it shouldn't be a problem, right? After all, we have a need for them here."

Wilhelmina pushed back a mess of red curls and stared at Annaka with her topaz eyes. "We won't be here long." She strictly told the blonde.

Hao stood up and calmly walked over to where his wife was. "If you wish to leave now I'm not going to stop you, so there is no reason for you three to stay."

"I have a reason." Annaka retorted, making Hao raise a brow at her remark. Annaka walked over to where Soraguimi stood and whispered extremely low that it seemed impossible for anyone to hear, yet somehow those three seemed to have heard it perfectly because their eyes grew three times normal size. "So you three _will_ stay here." She finished menacingly, her eyes as cold as ever.

Everything was silent as everyone wondered what the blonde had whispered to the three shamans, but the silence was easily broken.

"I have no problem staying." Arisu piped up with a calm smile. "I'd rather have it that way." She added, walking over to where Lyserg was standing, only a few feet past Annaka and Hao. She stopped a foot away from Lyserg and smiled, "This way we can get to know each other better, Lyserg-kun," she softly whispered, causing Lyserg to blush.

"Ah…hai," was all he said, from above him Marco raised a brow in suspicion at the girl, then he looked at the iron maiden and wondered how Jeanne-sama was viewing this.

"Don't get too cozy to him, Arisu," Hao piped up, smirking. "He's Jeanne's."

Silence filled the room for who knows how long, everyone's mouth dropped open at the Asakura's words. Lyserg, who was now bright red, couldn't speak or defend himself one bit. Jeanne on the other hand was a different story.

The iron maiden began to shake violently, and the doors to it slammed open revealing a topless red Maiden, "ASAKURA HAO!" she yelled in uttermost rage, stepping out of the torture chamber with a dark and disturbed aura.

Shamash appeared behind her with two iron spikes in his small blue hands, throwing each one as Jeanne said each word, "You." –Throw- "Are." –Throw- "The uttermost." –Throw- "Evil." –Throw- "ON THIS PLANET!"

_**CRASH**_

_**CRASH**_

_**CRASH**_

_**CRASH!**_

Hao easily dodged each spike thrown at him, a smirk always planted on his face, suddenly he disappeared before everyone's eyes and reappeared behind Jeanne, grabbing her by the arm and shaking his head in disapproval. "And you say the truth will set you free, yet you don't bother to admit your feelings. Tell me the irony in that Jeanne." He flung her forward, practically throwing who at Lyserg, who caught her in his arms and fell back as he did.

"Itai~!" they both yelped as they came crashing down on the ground.

Hao smirked, as so did many of the other shamans who saw the two X-Laws on top of each other in that way. "That's more like it." Hao added.

Both the X-Laws blushed to the roots of their hair until a small flash almost blinded the both of them and they looked up to see Jun coming down the stairs with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry but the scene was too cute to not take a picture of." She said cheerfully, cupping her cheek and giving an innocent grin.

"Why do you bother taking pictures when all you do is annoy everyone, Jun?" Ren brooded, glaring at his sister, arms crossed and Bason hovering behind him.

"But Ren, the scene was too cute to leave it without a picture, don't you think?" Jun replied aloud, enjoying the faint pink tints on the Lyserg and Jeanne's cheeks.

"Sure, it's just adorable." Wilhelmina sarcastically agreed, Arisu just blankly stared at the two X-Laws. The red head rolled her eyes and balanced herself on one arm as she watched her teammate awry make her way to the door.

"I'm going to go out to eat." She blankly announced, no one being able to describe the tone of her voice.

"Ano…there's plenty of food here you know. This inn may be old but there's no need for you to go out to eat." Tamao stated with a concerned look at the coal headed girl.

Arisu stopped dead in her tracks, Wilhelmina shook her head, and Emmetto slapped his forehead. "Baka." He insulted under his breathe, looking up to see Annaka staring dead at him.

Her gaze wasn't long, but also Emmetto wasn't an idiot. Her gaze practically saw right through him and his teammates, her red eyes burned through him like fire as if they said "I know." Emmetto looked away from the former queen's gaze and then his topaz eyes met a pair of skittish pink eyes. Those eyes were the ones that he wished to stare at for the longest time, but as soon as his golden eyes met her pink eyes, the rose instantly pulled her gaze away from Emmetto in shame for staring at him.

"Ano…" Tamao shyly began, her eyes still not wanting to meet his, "may I show you five to your rooms?" she politely finished, her arm stretched out and pointing in the direction of the stairs.

"What, you're not showing _us _the way to our rooms Tamao?" Horohoro joked as he took a bite of a peach he just stole from the kitchen.

Tamao smiled sweetly, "I'm sure the rest of you know the way to your rooms," she curtly replied.

Asanoha stood and placed a hand on Tamao and Manta's shoulder. "You'll show them to their rooms later, Tamao. Right now you will all head down to Shinra Private Academy to register yourselves into the school system."

Hao let out a groan, "Can I not enjoy a good day at home without having to meet up with humans?" he complained, yet he stood and began making his way out the door, then something popped into his head, and a mischievous grin appeared in his face, "Opacho, call the other two flowers and retrieve them. They will accompany the rest of us as well."

Opacho nodded and rapidly ran up the steps, following her precious Hao-sama's orders. Kanna's eyes widened and she began to protest Hao's command, "Lord Hao, you can't possibly-"

"You being his loyal follower, Bismark Kanna, you should know," Nianna stated completely aloof, "Asakura Hao takes everyone down with him." She added with a coy smile, earning a glare from the blue haired flower.

"Hai, Hao-sama?" the other two flowers asked coming down the stairs in now in their usual clothes, Pirika coming behind them looking a bit glum and worn out with Opacho in her arms.

Hao innocently smiled as the flowers came down the steps, "You two aren't avoiding school, either," he told them, "So you two will be coming along."

The two younger flowers froze in place, wide eyed, dumbfounded, and doubting what their ears had just heard from their master. "H-Hao-sama, you…y-you mean with…humans?" Macchi asked, phrasing the last word with fear and disgust. Hao nodded and Mari violently shook her head and held Chuck so tight that if he were alive she would be choking him, "Mari will do no such thing," she protested, "Hao-sama is being a jerk and playing a trick."

Hao closed his eyes and smirked, "It's not a joke, you will suffer along with me at school." He finished heading out the door with the most mischievous grin that could be planted on his face.

Chocolove, Horo, Ren, Tamao, Lyserg, Jeanne, Marco, Nianna, Nagehiko, Wilhelmina, and Emmetto all followed, leaving Macchi, Mari, and Arisu in the inn alone for a few seconds with Manta.

Arisu glanced over at Hanagumi's terrified faces of shock and gave a small smile, "You two might want to follow along." She curtly said then added, "Hao-Onichan is not one who you should disobey so easily."

Hanagumi nodded and ran to catch up with the others, Arisu just slowly strolling behind. Manta stood dumbfounded for a second and began to run after recovering, but a word the pixie girl said echoed in his head the whole time he ran to catch up to his much taller friends.

'_Hao-Onichan…'_

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Yoh ran fast through the town, every store and house that he past seemed like a blur to his eyes due to how fast he was able to run, his energy rose incredibly since Anna had arrived, now he didn't feel lonely in her memories. But of course, just because Anna was here didn't mean he didn't have something important to learn about, he still needed and wanted to find out about Anna's past.

The blurs that passed as he ran were just a bunch of colors of grey, black, white, all lifeless colors as if the town was waiting for its end. _'Yet everyone seems so happy.'_ Yoh noted in his head. The blurs continued to mask in its dim and dull colors until a strikingly bold orange color past his view. Yoh came to a stop and paused to look at the orange ink that caught his attention.

It was that girl from yesterday, the one that seemed so…artificial to the king, not like she didn't look normal but like if she was hiding something. Yoh noticed she was walking strangely, as if not wanting to be seen by anyone around her as she approached the school campus.

'_Strange,' _Yoh thought _'didn't I over sleep?'_ he wondered_ 'Then school should be over.'_ Boy did he have a bad feeling at the pit of his stomach again. The orange haired girl entered the double doors of the school and rapidly disappeared from Yoh's sight. This just wasn't normal, he wouldn't suspect anything if the girl didn't seem so mysterious and secretive but she was so…

Yoh sighed and ran pass the school gates and went right through the door, telling him he was now in his spirit form so no one could see him, unless he happened to run into Anna-chan or Cadm. He looked at the long hallways of this school, even though he'd been there once the building still amazed him.

Everything seemed perfectly in place, polished, dusted, you name it, it was amazing how this school made Shinra Private Academy look like a haunted house. What Yoh also noticed was that, besides him, there was no spirit or ghost around. What had happened to the souls of the students that had been killed by the oni yesterday?

"I fail to see the importance in you being partnered with her, Miss Shimizu." A voice echoed in the empty school, causing Yoh to become alert and reminded him of his task.

"Sensei," a young female voice said, probably through gritted teeth by the way the word came out, "it's orders from my boss so I suggest you just let me-"

"Listen here Miss Shimizu," the teacher ordered just as annoyed, "I don't know if you act this way because you are a seven-"

"Eight." The girl corrected.

Yoh followed the voices to a classroom only a few rooms down from where he was, he popped his head through the wall and saw the orange haired girl talking to the same teacher who gave Anna-chan her test to enter the school two days ago.

Yoh saw the teacher roll his eyes, "_Eight_ year old genius, but I'll tell you your behavior is not suitable for a child of your brain capacity. When you took your entrance exam the way you took the phone right out of my hand so that the man at the front desk would describe Miss Kyoyama to you-"

Yoh blinked, _she_ was the female who he heard on the other end of the line, then didn't that mean…

She knew something about Anna.

_**SLAM!**_

The orange haired girl slammed her fist into the table and glared at the teacher with her fierce grey eyes. "Listen Sensei," she began coldly, "I am an employee just as you are, but _I _get paid more than your sorry arse ever will. I need the money so you are going to do as my boss instructed and place me as Kyoyama's damn partner, understand!?" she blurted out.

Sensei slammed his hands on the table as well; the girl didn't even flinch at the cacophonous sound that rang through Yoh's ears. "Shimizu Shiori, you will treat me with respect. I am your elder and you are nothing but a mere…child…"

The teacher trailed off under the young girl's face which was now formed into a slight pout, tears coming down from her eyes, "I just wished to be friends with her," she mumbled under her breathe, loud enough for the sensei to hear, "you yell at me as if you were my father, but my father is dead along with my mother…Oyamada…I owe him my services so…" another tear ran down the girl's face and Sensei began to stutter.

"Ah! Shimizu-san I had n-no idea! I-I'll pair you up with Kyoyama-san then, seeing as you both are new it may be best that way."

Yoh gritted his teeth; Sensei gave up so easily just because she sprang into tears? He didn't like this girl one bit, what did she want with Anna? Yoh's eyes widened as a name came to mind, the name echoed in his head as he thought of it.

'_Oyamada.'_ Another flashback came to him, one that connected the two together.

'_Kyoyama, this is Tamurazaki, since you are not answering I suppose this means you have not arrived back to your home. Getting to the point I must inform you that Mr. Oyamada has sent someone to take care of your…business, she is of the problem's kind so they will be able to interact. But the point is Mr. Oyamada is requesting you NOT to rid the problem, instead we will bring it in for studying. Call back as soon as possible.'_

Yoh slapped his forehead, boy did he feel dumb. He missed an important clue, maybe next time he should bring Lyserg along, he was good with these things. But now that he thought about it he had to get to Anna-chan fast if he wanted to get to Cadm's house to pack for the trip to Kyouto.

'_Trip to Kyouto?'_ Yoh pushed his body off the wall and ran down the hallway and stopped right at the door, there beside the door was a poster saying:

**Christmas trip to Kyouto! The whole school will go and so will you, all will be absolutely free unless one of your parents is a chaperone and wishes to pay for a different hotel….**

Yoh didn't bother to read the rest, now he knew what all the fuss about, Anna-chan's school was taking a trip to Kyouto for Christmas. So that meant him and Anna would too, but that also meant something bad was going to happen.

And Yoh had a pretty good idea who would be the oni's next victim…

---

"Konnichiwa, Yoh-san, have you come to visit Anna?" Akiko sweetly asked as she came out the door to the Kyoyama residence, just in time to see Yoh coming through the gates.

Yoh grinned and waved a hand up to the older Kyoyama, "Hai, I came to check up on her. I heard what happened yesterday so…"

"Ah that." She replied a bit uneasy, "it's strange," she began to herself, "this town is supposed to be calm and quiet, a bit 'hidden from society', so to say. I wonder why all these deaths have happened…"

Yoh stayed silent for a bit, thinking of what to say, instead of some long and deep speech, he simply grinned and said "Everything will be alright."

Akiko smiled, "You seem more cheerful today…could it be…you've talked to your wife?" she asked, her smile turning into a gentle smirk, her green eyes filling up with hope.

Yoh grinned and nodded, "Hai, I did."

Akiko softly chuckled and began to walk towards the Kyoyama gates, "That would explain why your face has been lit as if it were a Christmas tree." She giggled.

The second to last words brought a question to the brunette's head, "Ah, Akiko-san!"

"Hai?"

"Ano…will Anna-chan be taking that trip to Kyouto tomorrow? I was just wondering…" he trailed off as the older blonde in front of him placed a finger on her lip and looked up to ponder up at the sky.

It took her a bit until she softly nodded, straightening her white dress that she wore over a pink sweater, "Yes, I believe she and Edward will be leaving early tomorrow morning. Are you planning on going as well?" she asked him, her green eyes anxiously looking towards the gates and the golden watch on her hand.

"If you have to go you can, Akiko-san," Yoh said noticing the woman's anxious movements, "I'll just let myself in to see Anna-chan, if you don't mind."

Akiko gave him a thankful/apologetic look, "Gomen but it's just…my husband will be arriving today and I should head on to retrieve him," she gave Yoh a warm welcoming smile, "but make yourself at home."

Yoh nodded as the blonde woman ran as fast as she could through the gates, turned the corner and disappeared from his sight. Then he turned and headed for the Kyoyama home. It didn't take him long to find Anna-chan's room, he was assigned the room beside hers when he spent the night before. He looked at the door and softly knocked. No answer. Yoh sighed and passed right through the door, once inside the room he saw Anna-chan lying on her bed, her bay eyes were a lifeless and dry dessert, it wasn't until Yoh called her name that the dessert was handed some water and turned into two precious cups of chocolate.

"Yoh-kun…" she slowly said, raising her head to see the brunette in front of her, then her eyes became dull, "why are you here?"

Yoh sat beside her futon and gave a small smile, "I wanted to make sure you were okay." He kindly stated.

Anna-chan frowned and glared at the window, "You should know by now I'm not safe to be around. Just cause you are a spirit doesn't mean I might not be able to hurt you," she softly protested, her sentence slowly trailing off.

Yoh looked at her and smiled, "I don't think anything will happen to me, Anna-chan!" he cheerfully tried to convince. "It'll all work out in the end."

The young blonde looked at him, "What makes you so sure?" she frowned, her eyes slowly transforming into a vicious glare, "You're too calm and act as if you know what'll happen to me."

Yoh laughed and gave a soft shrug, "Maybe, maybe not. Who knows?" he joked. The small girl continued to frown and went back to glaring out the window, Yoh noticed she was utterly gloomy, she hadn't smiled once since he got there.

'_Maybe,' _he thought, _'this is where it all begins. Her loosing her trust in everyone…but she's starting to lose her trust in herself first.' _He looked at the seven year old blonde once more and sighed, _'Yep, this is where it all begins.'_

"You're going aren't you?" the small girl's ringing voice asked, now looking dead at him with those blank eyes. Yoh blinked and opened his mouth, but the girl interrupted him, "I saw Cadm buying some stuff for a trip, so I was guessing maybe you two were tagging along with my school."

'_She's a little too observant.' _Yoh noted, scratching the back of his head, but he wasn't going to lie to the girl, heck he didn't like to be lied to when he was her age. "I guess we are."

"I see," was all she said, wrapping her arms around her small legs and resting her head on her knees, still looking out the window. Yoh watch her as she sighed a few times, her eyes never turning away from the window, but he flinched when she jerked her head up instantly and stood.

"Anna-chan?" Yoh asked as the small girl walked over to her window and placed her hands on its stool, her small brown eyes dilating, if possible, ten times their size. Then her body began shaking then and there.

Yoh opened his mouth to call her again but much to his surprise the small girl leaped from the window, falling perfectly and gracefully to her feet, then she ran, faster than Yoh had _ever_ seen in his whole life. He got up and also jumped out the window, his feet landing with a _thump _on the smooth green under him, and ran after her, not knowing where he would be following her to.

But he was Asakura Yoh and if something troubled anyone he couldn't leave it like that, even if all this has happened before, and there was no way to change the outcome of this memory.

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**MANTA'S P.O.V**

Almost three weeks without Yoh-kun and Anna-san, the atmosphere felt different for me. Don't get me wrong, Hao and Annaka-san are good replacements but…they're not Yoh-kun and Anna.

We were now only a few blocks away from Shinra Private Academy; it took us longer than normal because Tamao, Hao, Annaka-san, and I had forgotten that we had to _attend _school right after applying the others into it.

I found it a bit strange. Ren and the others…all attending the same school as Yoh would've if he were still here…I wonder what Yoh would say to lighten the silent uncomfortable mood…

"Ah~, sure feels nice out today," Hao stretched, slinging his bag over his shoulder. He sounded a lot like Yoh when he smiled so carelessly. "Too bad we're going to have to spend it indoors," he added.

I looked up at the sky, it seemed we would have enough time to lie under a tree for a bit, after all we came extremely early to apply everyone else here.

"So it's good then," Hao said, probably responding to the things he heard in my head.

Horohoro, who walked behind me, made a remark, "Hey how about you let the rest of us in on the conversation, we can't all read minds you know."

I've always wondered if Horohoro had ever been jealous of Yoh or Hao. By Hao I meant now, him having a wife and being known as the most powerful shaman in the world before he used up all his furyoku to revive Anna the first time we went to Mu.

Hao frowned at the last part.

I felt kinda bad for Horo though, Kororo and he are a bit like Faust and Eliza, shaman to spirit love, as I decided to call it. Hopefully Hao or Annaka wouldn't tell Horohoro I sad that.

They both smirked.

Feeling an uncomfortable aura, I looked up at Tamao who walked directly beside me, her eyes staring at the ground as she took step by step. She had been acting strange since we'd stayed at Nianna's place the first night, I wonder how she got those burned marks on her wrist. Yea they haven't seemed to get any better, the looked like a recently new cremate amount of skin.

The troubled expression on her face could be that the burns were beginning to sting again, if they were then I could just ask my father for a doctor to check her after school. That could be reason one, the other reason could be the blonde boy behind us. Emmetto. Even though I and Tamao were walking in front of him and the rest of Nianna's group we could somehow feel the strong gaze on our backs. To be honest it even gave me the chills.

But it felt as if the other two, Wilhelmina and Arisu, were also staring, though Arisu doesn't scare me as much as Wilhelmina and Emmetto.

Something seemed different about those three, their golden eyes and pale visages scared me. It wasn't like if I haven't seen pale faces and golden eyes before, it's just that…all three of them have it, and they don't seem related at all.

I turned my head back to catch at least a glimpse of them and they were staring at us, but Arisu-san saw me and gave me a smile that matched The Iron Maiden's. I don't know much about Soraguimi but Arisu-san was a bit too open and a bit easy to figure out.

Here are the things I have guessed about her: she likes Lyserg, hates The Iron Maiden, has the energy of Matilda, acts like she's close to Hao, and…she can see the future.

I don't mean _predict _the future either; I really mean _see _the future, at least that's my theory. I came to me when we were back at Mu and Arisu-san made Ren mad. I specifically remember Arisu-san's eyes going blank and she counting out the seconds until Lyserg tied Ren with his pendulum. It's like one of those movies where a character can see the future and their eyes go blank, like far off into time. I noticed this with Arisu-san as well. **[A/N: not many people guessed right about Arisu's shamanic power] **

The rest of Soraguimi is fuzzy to me and as for Nianna-san and Nagehiko-san, they seem a bit locked up, Nagehiko-san mostly.

"Oi Oyamada, wake up." Annaka-san ordered me.

I raised my head and noticed we not only passed the school gates but also we were right in front of the door to the hallways. When did I doze off so quickly…?

Ren took a few steps in front of me, griming at the school in front of him as he crossed his arms, "Why do I have to be here?" he asked, his eyes pointing towards Hao and Annaka-san. "I have no need to be educated here, back at the Tao mansion I am educated to become the Tao throne."

Bason appeared beside him and nodded in agreement, "That's right Bocchima."

I felt a drop of sweat follow fall down my forehead. The way Bason acted with Ren was a bit funny not to mention strange.

Hao angled himself to look at everyone who was behind him, pushing back his hair, "As far as I'm concerned, none of you have to come to school."

If the others were as puzzled as I was they weren't very good at showing it. Everyone's face was blank except for Tamao's and most likely mine. The only thing anyone did was raise a brow.

Hao crossed his arms and smirked, "You are all educated differently because of the different cultures you were all raised in. For example," –he pointed to Ren- "Ren is educated on how to become a powerful shaman so that he may take over the Tao clan, how is a human school going to help with that?"

He did have a point. Ren doesn't have to things such as literature and world history, he needs to become a strong fighter in order to keep the strong Tao bloodline going. After all the Tao's specialty is their fighting abilities and good eyes of observation, using Chinese poisons or deadly weapons and powerful spirits to win fights or wars, nothing that this school can teach. I remember reading once of the _Tao Te Ching _were there was a scripture that said:

_The Tao is like a well:  
used but never used up.  
It is like the eternal void:  
filled with infinite possibilities._

_It is hidden but always present.  
I don't know who gave birth to it.  
It is older than God._

Basically the Tao clan is very old so their methods of teaching could still be as they were for many generations before.

Next Hao pointed to Horohoro, "The Ainu education is different as well, mostly of survival and consists of a more…animist perspective, and you don't learn any of that here."

Not to mention the literature too. The Ainu language is significantly different from the Japanese language in its syntax, phonology, morphology, and vocabulary. Although there have been attempts to show that they are related, the vast majority of modern scholars reject that the relationship goes beyond contact, such as the mutual borrowing of words between Japanese and Ainu. In fact, no attempt to show a relationship with Ainu to any other language has gained wide acceptance, and Ainu is currently considered to be a language isolate.

Then it became Lyserg's turn to be exampled, "Little Lyserg has been home schooled up to this point. His family prefers to study along the line of using their dowsing techniques for criminology, not to mention Lyserg here prefers to learn from books rather than people other than his father."

Lyserg blushed and look towards the ground. My opinion is that since his parents' murder by Hao, could it be Lyserg skipped the books and went straight to a method that consisted of becoming stronger? It would explain why from what Yoh told me and Anna about Lyserg first looking for strong allies.

"Chocolove doesn't require much learning either," Hao went on, "in Africa they don't prepare you for life outside of Africa, and they mostly sing, dance, and tell myths and legends."

Not to mention every member of the community had a hand in contributing to the educational upbringing of the child. The high point of the African educational experience was the ritual passage ceremony from childhood to adulthood. There were no academic examinations necessary to graduate in the African educational system. But Chocolove's dream is to be a comedian, and a human school _really _can't improve _his _jokes.

Hao kept talking as he walked, with everyone else behind him, "Then we have little Stubborn-chan's education in the Catholic Church," –I saw The Iron Maiden frown at him- "personally I don't consider that much of an education, so maybe this school will do you good."

We had finally reached the principal's office. Boy I wonder about the look on Love-senpai's, the secretary, face when she saw Hao coming into the office so early because her eyes brows just shot up as soon as we entered.

"Asakura Yoh-san!" she blinked in what was probably surprise. Simpson Love-Senpai is a foreign one year graduate from this school, after almost going back to America she decided to stay and work as the school secretary since she didn't want to leave the school. "First time coming early to school I see," she smiled, Love-Senpai was the only one besides Anna who knew how many times Yoh had been absent to school, she turned to me and waved, "Ohayo Oyamada Manta-san!"

I raised a hand and greeted her back, feeling the blood rush to my head. Love-Senpai was cute, the only guy I knew who didn't agree with me was Yoh, but it seemed that Hao wasn't interested either.

Annaka walked over to the front desk and placed her hand on the desk, resting her body on one arm, "We have some friends, who are required to be transferred here, Love-Senpai, you will assist us in that…right?"

I have no idea what kind of look Annaka-san gave Love-Senpai at the moment, but judging by Love-Senpai's reaction it sure wasn't a very nice one.

She instantly back up a bit in her chair as her eyes grew and she began to stutter, "O-of c-course K-Kyoyama Anna-san!" Love-Senpai instantly jerked up out of her seat and basically ran to our principal's office.

Once she was inside the room Hao busted out laughing. "Someone is jealous," he laughed. All I saw was Annaka-san's face blush about three shades of red and she turned her back to Hao. I've always thought about the differences between Hao and Annaka-san's relationship and Yoh and Anna's relationship. If Yoh would've said _that _to Anna-san he would be in the spirit world long before his time, but all Hao does is make Annaka-san blush so easily, I wonder if eventually Yoh and Anna's relationship will be this good…

"Oi," Horohoro called from the door, "how long is this going to take? I really just want to back to the inn to eat."

Hao aimed his attention over to the door, and his expression worried me to be honest. "Looks like we may some difficulties…" he announced, then a strange grin appeared on his face, "Oi, Stubborn-Chan!" he called. The Iron Maiden popped her head in the room. "Why don't we start with you and Lyserg? To lighten the principal's mood a bit."

How would using Lyserg and The Iron Maiden help lighten up the principal's mood?

Maiden-san's face grimaced but calmed as Lyserg placed a hand on her shoulder, "We'll try our best!" he said with a smile that could possibly make any girl start hyperventilate immediately.

Ah I get where Hao is going with this now.

Love-Senpai came out of the office at that instant and looked at me, "Oyamada Manta-san, the principal says he will only take two at a time. So…"

I nodded "Eh…not a problem, it might take longer though…but I guess its fine."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yoh ran as fast as he could to catch up to the rapid seven year old that ran only a few feet in front of him. "Anna-chan, wait up!" he yelled now pushing himself to his limits to catch up with the blond speeding bullet.

'_How can she run so fast?' _Yoh asked himself until Anna-chan finally came to a stop at the bench right in front of the convenience store. "Anna…chan…what's…wrong?" he asked between his long breaths.

Anna-chan rose up her head and Yoh saw tears flooding down her face, "Did you not see him?" she asked through her faint sobs, "Did you not see him about to come into the house!?"

Yoh blinked, placed a hand on her shoulder, knelt down in front of the small girl and then he began to speak in a soft and kind matter, "Who, Anna-chan?" he asked.

Anna-chan didn't look him in the eyes, instead she looked down at her hands that were slowly forming into tight fists, and through her gritted teeth and sobs she said, "My father."

Yoh's eyes grew about an inch as he took this in, "You saw your father?" he asked. The blonde gave him a nod, and shook his hand off of her shoulder, then she took a few steps back and began to speak in a more calm tone.

"My father…hates me," she hesitated in saying. "He knows something is wrong with me." She looked at the palm of her hand and clenched it into a fist, "Not only him, my brother also knows this, but…"

Yoh placed his hand softly on her head and gently patted her. "He's not telling anyone so he must like you being his sister, Anna-chan," Yoh cheerfully concluded, giving her one of his famous grins. "Everything will work out in the end!"

Anna-chan took his hand off her head and grimed, "You're too laid back, Yoh-kun," she protested as nicely as she could, letting out a sigh, "Oi, why don't we shop a little? I have to buy some things anyway," she said now more cheerfully.

Yoh nodded and followed as the small girl walked in front of him. _'For right now she seems different than Anna. Anna hides all her feelings behind a grave and grim façade, Anna-chan hides hers through a cheerful one to prove that even with difficulties she can be happy and live a normal life. Though even if it's my Anna, or this little one, they are both far beyond normal.' _

"It's that time of year again, huh?" Yoh asked, wanting to begin a conversation with the grim blonde before him. Anna-chan or not, Anna-chan was still Anna, and Yoh didn't have that hard of a time talking to Anna. All he ever did was say something and the conversation would just flow.

The small girl look at each passing store and nodded, "Decorations, gaudy and bright and sparkling lining Machiosore's streets, hai, Christmas really is tomorrow."

Yoh smiled. You see? It really was easy to start a conversation with her. He watched and followed the child's gaze to every store she eyed trying to see through her eyes but he found nothing. Then the child stopped and stared a particular store. "Yoh-kun lets go there," she pointed to the store to where her gaze was at.

Yoh turned to view the store and madly blushed, "Ano, how about I wait here?" he stuttered, yanking his head in the opposite direction from the store and beginning to walk towards a nearby bench. Anna-chan grabbed him and pulled him back, giving him a childish glare.

The jingle from the bell that hung from the door seemed to have startled the girl who worked at the store for she immediately jumped and said, "Ah! WELCOME!" the girl seemed even more surprised to see a small blonde, and an older boy, come into the store.

"Konichiwa," Anna-chan bowed, "I am heading to Kyouto tomorrow with my family and my sister asked me to buy some things for her, I was hoping you could help me?"

The girl nodded and smiled, "Of course," she replied paying no attention to Yoh. Maybe Yoh became his spirit self again so the girl couldn't see him, he was glad too, he didn't want anyone to see him in a "women's store".

While the two girls were busy, Yoh turned his attention to the sky outside, dozing off for who knows how long. Finally Anna-chan tugged at his pants, causing Yoh to finally wake up.

She handed him a brown paper bag, "Here," she said, placing the bag in his hands. Yoh stared at the bag, puzzled and curious, he peeked into it and immediately regretting it.

"Why are you handing this to me?!" Yoh exclaimed, face turning the deepest shade of red that could ever exist.

Anna-chan tried to hold back a smile but failed in doing so, to distract her self from smiling she turned away from Yoh and said, "They're for your wife. She's here isn't she? That's why you've been much more cheerful than usual."

Yoh uncomfortably laughed, "I don't see myself any happier than normal…"

"You have a shining light behind you that says it, you're grinning more than usual, and right now you're blushing madly, Yoh-kun." She added real quickly, "not to mention you seem to be happy even though I'm trying to get you to leave me alone."

Yoh blinked and bent down so that his eyes could meet up with the small girl's, "You want me to leave you alone?" he asked her meaningfully.

Anna-chan's long hair covered all of her face, so Yoh could not see her expression as she opened her mouth to say, "Hai. I am too much trouble for you to be around me. I am dangerous, even to spirits. So it's best for you to-"

"I'm not going anywhere."

Anna-chan frowned at Yoh's comment and Yoh frowned at the dejavu.

"I don't like seeing people this way so I'm planning on doing something about it, so…" –he got up and patted her on the head- "I'll be sticking around you for a while." He gave her a long grin as he went to the door, the small bells jingling as he opened it, "You're just going to have to get used to me!" he joked heading out the door with the small blond trailing right behind him.

From the corner of the store Anna watched as the two went out of the store, seeing how Yoh's cheerfulness brought him and Anna-chan closer together. "Idiot," Anna muttered under her breathe, "You don't know what you are getting yourself into."

She walked over to the counter where she saw the Machiosore paper laying across the smooth oak wood.

**KYOYAMA RETURNS TO SOLVE THE RESENT DEATHS IN THE CITY!**

Anna scoffed at the paper's words, "There's nothing so great about that man coming," she irritably commented in rage, "that man…he's the end of me." She swayed her hand once across the air, causing a faint wind blow to push the paper to the ground spreading it all out on the floor.

Then she departed from the store, looking around the place that was once her home, everything seemed just as se remembered it in those faint and old memories of her bloody childhood.

There was still that uncomfortable aura that came from her very faint presence; in her head she saw it all, the red snow, the blade, the lives that she took…everything.

"This whole city will be gone by New Years. Just as I destroyed it back then." She sighed before turning on her feet and heading back to Cadm's place.

--

"Are you sure you have everything for tomorrow?" Ohachiyo asked at his partner as he watched Cadm pack everything into large bags.

"It could be much easier if you would help out, but yes I have everything," Cadm replied, throwing himself on the suitcase in order to close it.

At that moment the door opened and Anna came into the room, she paused as she watched Cadm jump up and down on his suitcase with all of his weight while Ohachiyo laughed. She let out a sigh before walking over to the suitcase and pushing down on it once, it closed immediately under her touch.

Cadm, thinking he finally closed it, smiled triumphantly, "You see," he told his demon friend, "not that hard."

Anna rolled her eyes. Boy! Were men helpless! She smiled at seeing her uncle laugh happily, then her eyes grew serious.

'_I'll do what I can until you give your life to save mine…and until Yoh hates me for what I did back then.'_

--

"I want to meet her."

Yoh blinked as he blew on his hot chocolate, "Meet who?" he asked taking a sip of it and feeling it warm his whole body after one gulp.

"Anna-san."

The snow suddenly melted as the hot chocolate that left Yoh's mouth at that instant touched it. Yoh coughed for a bit before turning back to Anna-chan, who had gazed at him with a curious look.

"Why do you want to meet Anna?" he asked through all of his coughing, softly pounding on his chest.

"Just because," she responded in a childlike manner, gulping down her chocolate milk as if it were regular water. Yoh watched as after a few seconds Anna-chan's cup was empty.

"Wow you were really thirsty!" he exclaimed in shock as the girl threw her cup away. She frowned at Yoh's comment.

"Don't change the subject!" the young one protested punching Yoh softly on the arm, at least, she _though _she did it softly.

"Ow!" Yoh winced in pain, causing the rest of his warm drink to fall into the snow, "Dang it." He muttered, he stared at it as it melted the frozen water it touched.

Anna-chan stared at the hot chocolate and bent down, touching it with her tiny hands, and in one tiny little bit of blinding light, the liquid was back in the cup, still warm in temperature. "How'd you-?" Yoh began to ask, but was able to stop himself as he saw that the small girl look just as surprised as he was.

"Could it be part of my disability?" she quietly asked under her breath, not bothering to hand Yoh the cup, instead she left it on the snow and ran.

Yoh jerked himself up off the bench and called after her, "ANNA-CHAN!" he called starting to run until he realized his feet were gone; he was once again in his spirit form. "Dammit," he cursed, looking after the body of the small girl that was getting smaller with each passing second, "Anna-chan."

He wasn't going to just float there, no, instead he floated directly behind her, trying hard to both stay in the air and keep up with the small blonde. "Anna-chan!" he kept yelling, but the girl couldn't see or hear him.

'_Why can't she see me?' _Yoh asked desperately through his head, _'It's just like last time…with Shio Yui…'_

_Yui kicked her in her gut, Anna fell back once more, she hit a tree that was to her side, and she flinched in pain._

"_Anna!" Yoh shouted, he got up and went to her ready to hold her in his arms._

_He bent over to touch her, but…he couldn't._

_He tried again._

_Nothing._

"_Anna!" he shouted once more._

_But Anna seemed as if she didn't see or hear him. She looked on, her face completely blank._

Yoh shook that moment out of his head, _'It seems I turn into spirit form when I have to be helpless or when I have nothing to do or be seen for.' _He gritted his teeth, _'Something is going to happen.'_

Anna-chan kept on running, all Yoh could see of her was her back and those long rays of sunshine that came from her head and were flowing with the wind that passed by them as she scuttled on. The Kyoyama residence was only a few more yards ahead, but Yoh felt its presence…disturbing.

Spirits were floating around the house, watching something very closely with…fear?

They were close to the gates now only a few feet away, but just as Anna reached out to touch the gates…

_**SLAP!**_

The sound could be heard throughout the whole block, Yoh froze, as so did Anna-chan, her tiny thin hands now touching the rough metal of the silver gates. She was in the way, so Yoh could not see what was going on in the other side of those gates, so he decided to look through Anna-chan's thoughts instead, as he had done before.

_Edward was on the ground, cupping one of his cheeks with his right hand, he looked up and glared at the man who had slapped him. From both Anna and Edward's thoughts of awe and hate he could tell…this man was Kyoyama Damasu._

"_Obviously you did not inherit my side of the genes, Edward," the man retorted insultingly, "If you did you would have received my observation skills and you could also know that she is not human."_

_Edward began to rise, still cupping his cheek, "Your observation skills must be failing you, Father. Because Anna is every bit human, you can tell by just looking at her," he answered back coldly, his eyes trying to burn holes through the man's body, but failing to do such thing._

_Kyoyama Damasu turned his back to his son and bent over to pick up a small yellow flower that lay on the green under his foot, he stayed in that position as he spoke, admiring the tiny yellow wine glass that glittered under the light that touched its petals. "Have you ever heard of a fox in disguise, Edward?" he asked, now rising up to stand._

"_Iie. What about them?" the blonde boy asked, not ready for another lecture of his father._

"_About five hundred years and more, many monks and humans believed that there existed other beings in this world, demons, so to say. They called them foxes in disguise, for foxes were known to be unique creatures as well. Do you see where I am going with this, My Son?"_

"_You think Anna is a demon?" Edward asked coldly, his fist tightening with his father's every word._

Anna grimaced at the theory, Yoh narrowed his eyes. So Anna had also been called a demon child as well, just as he once had.

_Damasu's serious frown slowly lit with a smirk, "No…" he calmly said, "there is a tale that says there exists a queen…a queen of all demons."- He paused for a long moment, letting all the words he spoke soak into his eldest son- "It is said that all creatures and beings can reincarnate, am I right? Now what chance is there that Anna could be that reincarnation?"_

"_None." Edward retorted deafeningly, "I told you before, Anna is human. She is no different than me or you, so stop this shit." He pushed his father out of the way and began making his way inside the house before Damasu's voice stopped him dead in his tracks._

"_What did you see in Anna to draw that painting in the convenience store, Edward?"_

_Edward stopped dead in his tracks, Damasu smirked, "Nothing that concerns you, you have your opinion and I have my facts. I have nothing more to say." with that said he walked back into the large house._

_Damasu smiled and instantly crushed the tulip in his hand then let it gently flow to the ground before walking back inside the house himself._

Yoh looked at Anna, who stared at the door where both her father and brother had gone back inside to. She clenched the bar of the gate in her tiny hands, "What do you want me to say, papa?" she monotoned, "Do you want me to be different so you can be right? Do you want me to hate those who are not like me? Do you want me to hate…humans?"

The brunette listened to the blonde's cries, knowing there was nothing he could do for her, because all of this was in the past, and he couldn't change that one bit.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"M-Manta-kun?"

Manta looked up from the Manjien to look at the flustered pink haired in front of him. Tamao didn't look at him but instead she looked down at her hands, a sort of nervous look on her face.

"Are they still looking over here?" she asked, pointing towards Soraguimi who (only Arisu and Emmetto) now wore the Shinra Private Academy school uniforms. Manta looked over at them and met with the topaz eyes of the coal haired pixie. She smiled cheerfully and Manta sweat dropped.

"He…he…looks like it Tamao," he replied nervously, feeling uncomfortable under the gaze of their bisque eyes.

They were all waiting for class to begin and for some to change into their school uniforms; Hao and Annaka left…somewhere, and the only ones who were left to change were Marion, Matilda, and Jeanne, who was changing at that moment.

"Hao-sama is cruel in making us come to a school with…humans," Macchi whined, shivering at the last word that left her lips.

Marion nodded, "Mari thinks this is unfair, Kanna-chan isn't coming to this wretched human school."

Kanna opened her eyes, she straightened up and pushed back some of her long blue hair, then she took out the tooth pick that now replaces her usual cigarette. "I can't help my age so suck it up."

"But doesn't Hao-sama know how much we'll suffer here?" the orange haired shaman softly asked, her eyes beginning to grow watery.

Manta seriously couldn't take it anymore, he let out a long sigh, "He knows," he softly blurted out.

"Nani?" the flowers all asked, their eyes all turning to the small, their small mouths dropping at his bold comment. Not bold because he's doing the exact opposite of what Annaka told him to do but because he was contradicting The Flowers' opinions on _their _master.

'_But Anna-san said that I have to help them so…' _Manta sighed once more. It seemed that what Anna says is more important than what Annaka-san would say, so at least that gave him a little courage. "Hao knows how you three would feel being here; don't forget he can still read your mind. But…" –he opened his Manjien and pulled out three slips of paper, and handed them to the three flowers- "I believe if Yoh were here then he would let you go back to where you wish so I got these tickets for you three to go wherever you wish to go back to, I guess you could say Anna made me do it." He finished sheepishly.

The three girls were stunned, they stared long and hard at the human boy who was handing them their tickets to freedom. Marion clutched Chuck to her chest, Kanna looked to the floor, "Lord Hao…does he approve of this? Is he really willing to…grant us our freedom?"

"Hao's no idiot." Ren stated as he leaned his back to the small lockers behind him, his hands placed inside the pockets of the school uniform he wore. "Manta must have thought of this while Hao was around here. Most likely Hao knows, and seeing as he hasn't protested…you have your freedom."

The three girls considered this and hesitated, two of them started shaking as they thought of what would come if Hao _didn't _approve of their freedom from their eternal loyalty to him. But it was the eldest of the three who spit out her toothpick and walked up to the short human. "Lord Hao respects Anna-sama's decisions. And if Anna-sama's orders are for you to do this…then we will do this with loyalty to her decision," Kanna said hesitantly, making an excuse for her action in taking the train ticket out of Manta's hands.

As she took her ticket, Matilda stood up off the floor and, while shaking, she walked over to Manta and gently slipped the ticket out of hand, Marion doing the same but much more bluntly.

Finally when the three members of Hanagumi had their tickets in hand, they lowered their heads, uncertain of what to do now. "To be free from Hao-sama…we've always been with him…ever since he saved us…" tears began to form in the orange flower's eyes, from those lavender petals came the raindrops that came from a impendent storm in her and the others' hearts.

"Mari…feels confused…and sad."

"I see nothing to cry about," the ringing voice in the wind answered to all of them. All eyes turned to view the source of the voice who they knew was obviously Nianna. All but Manta and Tamao were amazed at how well the uniform fit her, her Anna-length mid-night-black hair contrasted but yet blended in with the green and white clothing of the school. Of course Manta and Tamao weren't shocked at how she looked, she looked exactly like Anna and Annaka did…perfect.

But it seemed as if the mid-night girl did not realize anyone's gaze on her, her gaze was on Hanagumi who watched her with uncertain eyes. "You three have your freedom so go." She simply stated, shrugging her shoulders as if the whole thing was obvious. "Of course…you have always had your freedom," she added, cocking her head to one side, "Yes, you have. After the shaman fight Asakura never said you had to stay with him did he?"

Kanna glared at the Anna-look-alike, "Anna-sama assigned us places to live in," she coldly retorted, anger bubbling up inside of her. This fake was mocking her loyalty to Hao-sama, if she didn't know what punishment would lie ahead for killing Nianna she would have already struck the fake queen dead.

While everyone else seemed cool about the whole situation, as always, it was Manta and Tamao who would worry. The two of them turned to face one another with uneasy worry, both were nervous of Hanagumi's well known temper, and both remembering that Marion had Chuck in her hands…

There was an aura of tension in the school as our shamans viewed the two girls, but like Anna, Nianna remained neutral to the feeling in the room. The black haired girl crossed her arms in front of her and grimed her face, causing Manta to shiver at the close resemblance of Anna and Nianna.

"Am I not Anna?" she asked in an impossibly innocent but menacing tone.

Ren, Chocolove, Lyserg and Horo's mouths all dropped in shock at her words, Manta and Tamao ran a few steps backwards before both yelling, "EHH?!" in unison, Wilhelmina, Arisu, and Emmetto's topaz eyes dilated greatly.

Matilda suddenly had a tight grip on her broom, "You are not Anna-sama." She protested trying to keep her cool; it was rare moments such as this when she would feel like loathing somebody so much. "Anna-sama is Yoh-sama's wife, The Shaman Queen, someone who Hao-sama respects and trusts very dearly," her plum eyes shaking in anger.

Marion's body was shaking as well, if Chuck was alive he would be choked in less than a second by his master's tight grip, "Mari," she began, her green eyes blaring holes right through Nianna, "You belong to no one, you are no queen, and Hao-sama doesn't respect or trust you."

-Kanna pulled back her arm, forming her hand into a tight ball-"You…are nothing like the girl Lord Hao respects!" in her rage, Kanna threw her fist back and then threw it forward towards Nianna with all the force that she could make into that one physical attack.

Her fist hit something hard, but it wasn't Nianna's face or any part of her body, it was…thin air.

She looked up to where her fist stopped in mid-punch, Emmetto was standing directly in front of where her fist stopped, but he was a few inches away from her balled hand.

"It's not right to hit a child if it's not yours," he bluntly stated, "If you're going to fight with some dignity fight with your elders to prove your strength."

The blue haired shaman scoffed, "Elder? Ha! How old do you think I am?

Ren eyed the situation closely, observing a possible enemy, when his eyes wandered to the two female members of Soraguimi. He watched as Wilhelmina watched bluntly no emotion showing as her long wine curls slowly began to fall around her face. Then he saw the pixie girl wince and his gaze landed on her, his suspicion rose as he saw the thin girl smirk, her eyes producing acknowledgement.

The blonde boy's serious face turned into an amused face, he crossed his arms and his eyes hinted something hidden behind all that gold in them. "You act as if you were a child of five."

"WHY YOU!!" Kanna began to bring her arm back to punch the boy until she found out she couldn't. _'What the hell? I...can't move' _her eyes landed on Emmetto who smirked at her in triumph. _'The bastard. What the hell is he? I can't…feel my body.'_

Matilda and Marion both looked worryingly at their teammate, "Kanna-chan?" Macchi asked, a slight tremble in her voice. "Kanna-chan!?"

Suddenly Kanna could no longer hear them, she could only see them as they mouth words to her, her body was numb and her senses were…numbing.

"**STOP IT!" Tamao unintently yelled. Manta looked up at the girl beside him; Tamao quickly covered her mouth as she realized that she had just yelled. Everyone else was equally surprised.**

Emmetto just stared at the girl, amazed by her sudden outburst, he closed his eyes and in a split second Kanna fell to the ground, feeling as if all her blood had rushed back to her in one shot.

Chocolove and Lyserg both went over to help her stand without falling back down, Nianna took one last look at the three members of Hanagumi before saying, "You should go."

Wilhelmina watched boredly as the three flowers made their way out the door, "If they knew what we are they would know better," she stated, pushing back a mess of red curls.

Arisu shook her head, "Iie, according to all of them there's no such thing as us, they wouldn't know what to expect." –She looked over at two of the shamans that watched Hanagumi leave- "Well, two of them might…but soon they'll all know."

---

The darkness that he saw wasn't scary; it was more peaceful than anything really, he was just sound asleep, his body leaning on a tree, the wind blowing back his long brunette hair.

He wasn't really asleep, just having his eyes closed to find peace within his own mind. Beside him Annaka watched him, her now oversouled brown eyes staring at him in awe at how he could sleep almost anywhere.

Even though they were still on school campus, Annaka found herself at ease by just sitting beneath the sakura tree. She two wanted to close her eyes to rest so she began to slowly close her eye lids before she saw a figure walking a few yards away.

The blonde's eyes grew a tremendous amount before she shook her head. _'It can't be…' _she tried to convince herself _'he's…'_

She looked up once more and sure enough the boy was still there.

The boy had smooth tan skin that was completely flawless, long perfectly straight coal black hair down to his back and mid-night colored eyes. He wore the Shinra Private Academy uniform but, unlike Hao, his shirt was buttoned up half-way.

The boy stared long and hard at the clouds, his eyes having a certain warmth to them as he harmonized himself in nature's fluffy white pillows in the sky. _'The sky never seems to stay the same…just like _she _said…'_

The image from the boy's thoughts filled Annaka's head, she internally gasped at the familiar image in her head, the picture of the girl…the girl with the blank eyes. She immediately stood, unable to realize until now that Hao had a hold of her hand. She didn't want to wake Hao up, but still… "NAGEHIKO!" she called out, pleading he wouldn't run away.

Nagehiko winced at the sound of his name; he turned to the source from which his name came from. His eyes grew as he suddenly realized that he was standing in front of both Asakura's without his cloak. He quickly turned and ran to the double doors, away from the sight of the blonde.

Annaka looked at him as he left, she couldn't go after him, if Hao were to wake up he would be equally surprised to know the same as she. "You can't be alive," she whispered in monotone to herself, "How is it you can be alive…Patch Priest Nagehiko?"

From the corner of the school building a certain Chinese shaman looked at the two Asakuras and the boy that ran away. A smile formed on the lips of her pale face, she twirled one of her red curls around with her index finger as she became amused with the scene.

"You were right," said the red head, her golden eyes now speaking to the blonde Asakura, "you do remember us. Even that damn Patch that saved you and, possibly, you remember _her_ too? How could you not? You two are connected, are you not?"

She leaned on the wall of the school building as she watched Annaka sit back down to the blades of green below the tree. Then, her eyes landed on the resting brunette and her topaz eyes turned cold, "I'll make _you _remember, I'll make you remember all of us…Hao-sama."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

_Asakura Hao sat on a large boulder that was not alone, the vale he was at had many boulders bigger than the one he sat on, but that didn't matter. He was looking at the beauty off all Mother Nature that Kami-sama had given to the earth, the greatest beauty. But that also didn't matter either._

_What mattered was that at that instant he knew someone was watching him, and that that someone was coming in the name of another, of that damn Patch Maiden._

_The boy behind him believed he was being extremely quiet in sneaking behind his enemy, but boy was he wrong. Hao knew very well that he was there._

_The boy brought out his weapon as he became closer with each step that he took. In his hands was a long __Kusarigama_**_(_**a traditional Japanese weapon that consists of kama, the Japanese equivalent of a sickle, on a metal chain with a heavy iron weight at the end) _that instead of a kama it had a hard preserved and enormous bear claw. Its patterns were gold with black and long black streaks of rectangular shapes at the bottom._

_He was well prepared to finish with Asakura Hao for good, for there had been many that wished to kill him as much as he did. _

_He was only feet away now and in the blink of a human eye, he jumped into the air and brought back his clawed kusarigama, getting ready to slice the body of enemy with his grand oversoul. "__**O.S **__**ougon no kyokusei no mou!**__" __he shouted as his spirit came into contact with his medium._

_As his body was coming closer into contact he shouted one more phrase, "DIE ASAKURA HAO!"_

_With his back turned to the boy, Hao smirked._

_Before the boy could react, his oversoul armor got trapped in something. No. something trapped his oversoul…blue beads._

_In an instant his oversoul was gone, causing the boy to come crashing to the ground. _

_Hao sat up from the boulder and stood, his body shadowing over the boy's body, Hao smiled, "Impressive," he said with humor, "normally one doesn't come so close to me as you did. But should you really be trying to kill your fellow Patch, Patch Priest Nagehiko?"_

_Nagehiko grimaced and growled at Hao's words, "You're a fake, Asakura Hao. You became a Patch due to your ability to reincarnate into whatever family you wished, and as a result…you stole the S.O.F."_

"_Proves I'm strong enough to be a Patch, does it not?" Hao challenged, his eyes becoming amused by the boy's temper. _

_Nagehiko immediately stood and pointed his kusarigama to Hao's face, his coal dark eyes having the word "loathe" written all over them, "I'll personally kill you,"_

_Hao raised a brow, "Really?"_

_The grip on the black haired Patch's kusarigama tightened, but before he could injure the brunette, something got a hold of his weapon, yanking it out of his hand promptly._

_The boy turned to view his stolen kusarigama and saw the thief. It was a girl, girls around his age with chocolate hair a bit pass her shoulders, she wore a windmill printed orange kimono with a tight koshi-obi of a darker orange tied around her waist, a thin strip of light blue ribbon tied in a bow over it._

_Her eyes were hidden behind her hair, but the bottom of her visage seemed flawless. In her hand was Nagehiko's kusarigama, wrapped and tied up by a light blue beaded rosary necklace. Hao smiled as Nagehiko stared at the strange girl who managed to take his weapon with such ease, "Tell you what Nagehiko, we'll play a little game."_

_The coal haired boy glared at Hao, "How old do you think I am, Asakura?"_

_The Asakura smirked, "We'll make it a bet then." –he walked over to the brunette girl and took Nagehiko's weapon from her- "You'll have a shaman fight with one of my followers, a test of strength so to say, if you beat my follower you can kill me, but if my follower wins…" Hao's eyes became completely amused by his own proposal as he spoke the remaining of the rules, "then I get to decide your fate."_

_Nagehiko grimaced and froze in place as those words echoed in his head, 'I get to decide your fate…' he balled his hands into fists, his eyes blaring deep holes through Hao's body. "Deal." He agreed, "So which one of you do I fight?"_

_Behind the trees appeared four cloaked figures none of their eyes showing, due to either their hair or cloak hoods covering their eyes. The smallest of all of them turned her cloaked head towards Hao. "Hao-Onichan~" she softly spoke in a voice that seemed familiar to Nagehiko._

_Hao nodded, understanding the girl's unspoken comment by simply reading her mind, "Don't worry, I know." Hao looked at the other three that stood in their cloaks hidden beneath the shady trees, "You all can just watch," he informed them before turning to the brunette girl in the orange kimono, "Annai, you'll fight him," Hao loudly announced to everyone._

"_!"_

_The tallest of the cloaked figures winced and jerked a step forward, causing two locks of red curls to come out of the shadows of her cloak, "Hao-sama! But she's-"_

"_That just makes it more interesting does it not?" Hao grinned completely aloof, "After all…the shaman fight is only for entertainment, because the Shaman King…will be me."_

_Hao tossed him his weapon, Nagehiko catching it with ease and already preparing himself in stance. The Asakura-Patch grinned at seeing the boy's determination, he turned to his own determined follower, "Don't disappoint me, okay?" he playfully ordered._

_The girl he called Annai didn't speak, but simply nodded her head, her eyes still hidden from anyone's view. _

_Hao took his time to walk back to where the most loyal of his followers stood, beneath the shadows of the sakura trees._

"_Hao-sama," a male voice called from under the cloak, "out of all the people you choose her…why?"_

_the smallest follower with the cloak turned to the cloaked figure from which the male voice came, "You underestimate Annai," she calmly informed. _

_Hao nodded his head, his red haori becoming a shade darker as he entered the cooler side of the forest, "Annai hasn't talked since the day she was abandon by her clan, she's been in just the same amount of pain as the rest of you. But don't worry this fight won't take long," –he looked down at the small cloaked girl- "right?"_

_The young cloaked girl nodded her head, "Right~" she cheerfully agreed._

_Nagehiko spread his legs out and bent over slightly, clutching his kusarigama with both of his smooth tan hands, "I'll have you meet my spirit before anything," he told the girl._

_There was gush of yellow smoke as a huge, impossibly giant white bear appearing behind the dark haired boy, a gold and black armor around his head and the rest of its body. It growled at the chocolate haired girl, showing off its fierce white teeth._

"_Impressive, huh?" Nagehiko smirked as his spirit roared in a grand and powerful voice. But yet Annai didn't budge, she simply stood as she was before, the bottom half of her smooth peach-colored skin was grim._

_Nagehiko grimed, "You…you're making fun of me," he growled under his breath, "Girl or no girl, I will not go easy on you.__** O.S. **__**ougon no tsume!**__"_

_The grand bear dissolved into a golden haze, rapidly entering his kusarigama and becoming a grand armor over Nagehiko's body, his weapon now becoming bright and blinding._

_He launched himself in the air, hovering above the ground and coming down just as he was over Annai._

_Annai didn't move until heard Nagehiko only a few feet above her, then she quickly jumped back, causing Nagehiko to come down crashing to the ground._

_Dust flew deluged everywhere causing a deep mist of brown to surround them, Nagehiko stood, a grand crater surrounding him from where he landed._

_*pant* *pant* the dark haired Patch gazed up at the girl as he took in the deep breaths that left him during the collision against the ground. _

_Annai was only a few feet away from the crater, standing as if she didn't see the enormous hole that took up massive amounts of land. She just stood there completely neutral to everything that was going on around her, then Nagehiko saw her smirk…_

'_Kisama, she's making fun of me again,' the boy pushed himself up and stood up tall, grabbing his kusarigama that laid on the rocks beside him. His oversoul had been destroyed once. _

"_I will not…be made a fool of…BY A GIRL!" he slammed his weapon to the ground and the claw at the end of it grew, casting him into the summit of the azure._

_He swung his kusarigama once towards Annai's body, then twice, and again, missing her body every time as she dodged the bladed claw by an inch._

"_He sure is putting up a fight," the small cloaked girl stated, "how worthless his effort will be in the end," she shrugged._

_The cloaked male crossed his arms in front of him, "It's bad enough for him that Hao-sama chose a girl for him to fight, but to beaten by her…it ruins his ego as a Patch."_

_One of the cloaked followers of Asakura Hao glanced up from the hood of his cloak, allowing you to see his observant green eyes that watched the move of both shaman fighters on the field._

_Another, who leaned against a tree, watched as well, but her face was the only thing being covered. You could see and her long red koshi-obi that stopped and inch above her pink mini-kimono, her small smooth pale hands were visible through her wide cuff sleeves. And you could also see her waist-long pink hair that came out from under her cloak hood._

_Those two were the only two out of the five main followers of Asakura Hao that quietly observed the fight, the others made comments as Nagehiko's oversoul was destroyed 1…2…3…7 times._

_The eighth time Nagehiko swung his kusarigama once more at Annai's body and missed again, as he began falling forward, something wrapped itself around his body, crushing his oversoul to pieces and pulling him to the ground._

_Nagehiko blinked at the foreign object around him, it was a blue beaded rosary necklace, it had been thrown and wrapped around him while he tried to strike._

_The one who was holding it was the one who threw it, Annai._

_She stood in front of his body that lay on the ground, tied up by her blue beads, her chest was moving up and down as she took deep breaths._

_She didn't look at him; she just had her head lowered so that the upper half of her face could still not be seen. What could she possibly be hiding?_

_Nagehiko grunted and clenched his teeth, this girl was beating him with such discreet that it bothered him. He had to free himself; if he could just beat this girl then he could kill Asakura Hao, just like his childhood friend had been praying for all her life._

_He checked Annai's grasp, she seemed to have a tight grip on the necklace, one that could not be loosen so easily._

_But the one thing many of Hao's allies did not know was that this fifteen year old Patch was chosen among many of the Patch tribe boy because of his cunning intelligence._

_He looked to his sides, there seemed to be no rocks for him to hurt himself…perfect._

_Before anyone could react, Nagehiko jolted to right and rolled over, yanking Annai up into the air, causing her to come crashing down to the grass._

_What Nagehiko didn't calculate was Annai's grip to be so forceful. As she came crashing to the grass the necklace yanked Nagehiko up and lured him on top of Annai._

_From the impact, the girl let go of the beads and they fell off, releasing Nagehiko's body._

_As he felt the beads loosen around him, the Patch gently pushed his body up and realized he was practically on top of her._

_He was about to push himself up, until curiosity caught him tight. _

_Annai's hair was now barley on her face, it only covered her eyes, but Nagehiko could see the smooth peach colored skin that the Japanese girl had._

_Without noticing himself, he brought a hand up and tamely pushed the last remains of Annai's chocolate hair away from her eyes._

_The girl gasped at feeling his hand touch her face, but the noise was so soft that you could barely tell._

_Then it was Nagehiko's turn to gasp…_

_Annai was absolutely stunning that it blew his breath away, her eyes were a light chocolate brown whit tints of amber in them, and now that he saw her entire visage he could not see why this girl would join someone as vile as Asakura Hao._

_But something seemed strange about her though, she looked dead at him but he couldn't see anything in her eyes, they were glassy and it was as if she was seeing right through him or…_

_Couldn't see him at all…_

_From the shade of the forest, Hao smirked in satisfaction of the boy's acknowledgement, "Looks like he found out," he coolly announced to his allies behind him._

_The five allies viewed there master in curiosity, he seemed completely amused at the fact of which he had just spoke. But they didn't know that Hao was amused of something else._

_They could hear Nagehiko's thoughts as he realized the allurement of his fellow ally. Hao could hear every thought that the two were thinking at the time. He could hear as Nagehiko realized that the heat was rushing to his head and that his heart beat began accelerating it felt like a deep and long adrenaline rush._

_Hao smirked and immediately knew that he had gotten to his fellow Patch, all he needed now was for Annai to feel the heat and pulse coming from Nagehiko's hand and-_

"_HOW DISTURBING!" __**SLAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

_The blow from Annai's slap had knocked Nagehiko off of her and made him thunder into a nearby boulder, not only making a dent in the boulder but also making many cracks that split the boulder in two. __**[A/N: that is one heck of a brutal slap…who does it remind you of?? Well that's relevant to the plot of the story so pay attention]**_

_Hao scoffed and made his way past Annai, who did not stand but instead sat up and blankly stared in the direction Hao was heading, and stopped a few feet away from Nagehiko._

_Nagehiko was bleeding through his back, his blood splattered through the boulder behind him from the impact, his spirit floated as a ball beside him, snarling at Hao as he approached._

_Hao knelt down to Nagehiko's level, the five cloaked allies now behind him. "Looks like you lost," Hao acknowledged with a satisfied grin, "I told you didn't I? The Shaman King will be me, that means not even you can stop me."_

_Nagehiko weakly glared at Hao, but it seemed it hurt to even do that. Hao shook his head, "If could you couldn't beat one of my followers, much less you could beat me." He stood up and looked down at the boy, not only physically but also belittling him literally. "Well looks like I now have to decide your fate."_

_The Patch's eyes grew as the conditions of the bet came into his head, he could practically feel the goosebumps from the thought of his own death._

_Hao raised his hand and collided his two fingers together with a snap; Nagehiko shut his eyes, ready to meet his so called fate. But he jerked them open when he realized he felt no pain._

_Not the pain he expected, but his body felt free from all the pain that previously came from the injuries he endured. He looked up and stared at Asakura in disbelief his mouth dropped open._

"_A good shaman shouldn't go to waste," Hao calmly explained, ignoring the looks of disbelief he also received from his allies, "I'd rather you just simply join me and follow me as I become Shaman King."_

_Nagehiko's teeth clamped together in rage, "Over my dead body will I join you, you bastard!" he shouted out in annoyance of the Asakura belittling him._

_Hao narrowed his eyes, "That can be arranged, my fellow Patch." –Nagehiko winced- "but I'd rather not arrange it, your burnt body could pollute the earth I am trying to save."_

_The boy's brows raised in confusion of Hao's words. _

_Hao smiled, "Believe it or not but you are ignorant. You are blind in seeing the danger humans are to this world, they are just as ignorant maybe even worse, that's why they must be destroyed." –Nagehiko narrowed his eyes- "You have seen the many shaman that follow me, am I right? You and that stubborn Joan D'Arc have killed many of them thinking it'll stop me, but you do not realize that you become as bad as humans."_

"_Humans have no effect on us shamans," the coal haired Patch protested._

_Hao arched a perfect brown brow at this statement, "Really? Then tell me, Nagehiko, why is the Shaman Fight hidden from the eyes of humans?"_

"_!"_

"_Exactly, even the Great Spirit sees the danger that these humans are to all living organisms." Hao's eyes now pointed to the cloaked figures behind him, "They are living witnesses to what menace humans really are."_

_The five cloaked figures dropped down their cloaks, revealing their faces, known faces throughout the whole Shaman Fight contestants._

_Nagehiko's eyes blinked in acceptance and acknowledgement, Hao suddenly realized he had truly conquered the boy now and turned around to walk back to his hidden shelter, a satisfied smile on his face._

_The others began to follow behind, only one of the five waiting on Nagehiko, a __petite__ girl __who was pixie-like and seemed to have a graceful gait, her hair was a deep black that was cropped to her shoulders but spiked out, making it appeared shorter. She seemed the same as Nagehiko but knowing her well and close Nagehiko knew that the girl was not but nine years old._

_She extended her hand out to him, a sort of sisterly look in her amber eyes, "Come along, Nagehiko-kun, I know you shall not disappoint Hao-Onichan."_

_Nagehiko nodded and the girl dropped her hand and ran up to catch up to the ones who were ahead, stopping to the side of a boy with green hair._

_Nagehiko hesitated in following, knowing the consequences of joining the enemy, but he knew that in a way Hao's words were true. 'Gomen, Joan-Onee-san.' He ran after them, his polar spirit following right behind._

_As he ran he ignored the sound of his oracle bell that displayed the names of Asakura Hao's six followers one by one._

_Ming Wilhelmina…Leiko Emmetto…Asakura Annai…Patch Priestess Arisu… Diethyl Lysander… and…_

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Hao opened his eyes as the bell began to ring. The school yard was already full of Shinra Academy students entering campus and heading towards their homerooms.

Annaka looked down at her husband, "We should go," she said dusting off her green skirt as she stood up.

"Right."

----

"Damn kids, always causing trouble wherever they walk, they're so noisy too. Why did I ever choose this career anyway?" a male teacher asked as he walked down the hallway to go to his assigned homeroom.

The teacher had recently received notifications saying that he would have many new students today entering in his class. "Almost three weeks _after _school starts too," he complained, "don't these kids ever hear of entering school on time?"

"Mr. Tamaki-Sensei?" someone asked.

Tamaki-Sensei turned around and nearly dropped his text books and records to the ground when he saw who had called him.

It was a tall muscular man, with long sandy brown hair. The man wore a black suit and around his neck was a strange necklace with a pattern of a bead, then a claw, then a bead, and so on. "My name is Jackson, I have a request to ask of you," he told the teacher with not a very personable attitude.

Tamaki-Sensei winced at the man's mien, he rapidly gave in to the request, "Anything! Just don't hurt me!"

Jackson's expression didn't change, instead he took a few steps forward and said, "It's regarding a student in your class…he is written as Asakura Yoh."

----

"Manta-kun, do you think this was a good idea?"

Manta looked up at Tamao, who, until now, had been walking silently beside him. Manta raised his brows in curiosity to what the girl was talking about, "What do you mean, Tamao?" he blinked.

Tamao looked behind them, her worried pink eyes pointing to all the shamans who walk behind them, "Do you think it was a good idea to allow them to enroll at this school?" she asked worriedly.

Manta followed her eyes to their friends, "I don't see why not."

Tamao brought her hand up to her mouth, "It's just…Yoh-sama is kind and gentle, but if what if…any of them ruin his appearance or cause problem to Yoh-sama?"

Beside her, Nianna looked at the girl with suspicious eyes, "I doubt any of these guys will do anything to your precious Yoh-sama…or should I say _Anna-san's _precious Yoh-sama," she said with a smirk.

Tamao frowned and looked down as she continued to walk.

"Kisama, I still don't see why I have to bother coming to such a low class school," Ren complained as he and the others walked down the hall to their designated room.

"But Bocchima, this is one of the most high class schools in the district!" Bason informed his aloof master.

Ren crossed his arms, "Shut up!" he yelled, "Anyone that isn't familiar with the heir of the Tao throne does not deserve to teach the heir! I should not have to come to such a place."

Horohoro rolled his eyes at his hotheaded friend; he walked with his arms crossed coolly behind his head, just strolling by beside Ren. "We can't act fast enough if anything happens and we're back at our home town, which is why we have to stay in this shit of a place with the 2nd Ice Queen."

Chocolove was too busy looking around his surroundings to be involved in the conversation of his teammates; he was practically somewhere else the whole while he and everyone else walked.

Lyserg had better things to say though, "I've never been at a school before, I've always been home schooled…it seems kind of nice," he smiled, admiring the structures of the well built school.

Jeanne walked along side of Lyserg, also venerating the thought of studying somewhere else other than what they have been known to study at. "It does seem quite nice," she agreed, turning to Lyserg to give him one of her illuminant smiles.

Lyserg smiled back and then involuntarily he looked at The Maiden in her school uniform, noticing how short the skirt was, he instantly pulled away, embarrassed by his acts.

Ren looked at the two and ignored them, sooner or later those two would be married…or at least that was his opinionated fact. He looked back at the two members of Soraguimi that walked behind everyone else.

The pixie girl seemed as cheerful as ever, having a sort of musical movement to her steps and the blond haired boy just walking and starring at a certain pink haired girl that walked in front along Manta.

Ren glowered at the two strangers, they still didn't know much about the team of shamans and yet they had been asked to help out, at least that's what everyone thought. But the great Tao Ren knew better, the real reason the strangers were here was probably to be under their observation incase they were some threat to Yoh.

One thing was for sure, they'd have Tao Ren observing their every movement and action.

----

"Asakura Yoh."

"Hai, Sensei?" Hao responded dimly.

"Please define _caul_."

Hao sighed; this was just too easy, "Well, to be 'born in the caul' simply means a child is born with the amniotic sac or membranes still intact around the body. The sac has two membranes of fetal origin which separate the amniotic fluid and fetus from the maternal uterine wall. When a baby is born in the caul, the sac balloons out at birth, covering the baby's face and body as he or she emerges from the mother. The caul is harmless and a child born in this way is known as a caulbearer."

The teacher blinked at the Asakura's answer, he shook his head and said, "Um…yes…that's correct," he stuttered.

Hao smiled in amusement at the teacher's awe; surely Yoh could not be so dumb as to not know what a caul is.

As Tamaki-Sensei continued with his lesson, Hao decided to delve himself into reading the thoughts of the people in the room. The closest to him was Manta so he decided to start there.

'_Hao's knowledge must be coming from previous years; I wonder if anyone else knows what a caul is? Could it be of some importance?'_

Hmm. Too boring. He moved on to the next closest…Lyserg.

'_Dear Grandfather, I have something of importance to ask you. It seems something has come up, something strange, I require assistance for this. I have not returned home because I have been occupied in something. But the point of this letter is to ask you of an ancestor from five hundred years ago, I require a name and his connection to Asakura Hao. Also I desire connections to a girl from that time with possibly silver hair, red eyes…'_

Hao frowned in boredom, Annaka had prohibited they talk to Lyserg and Jeanne of their ancestors, Hao found it best that way as well, seeing that his memory was a blur and was just now coming back into bits and pieces.

He gazed over at Horohoro, Kororo was on his shoulder hugging him tightly, Horohoro was in a daze because of it.

Chocolove was asleep, drooling on his desk, dreaming about some big stage performance of his, and how that was much better than being locked up in jail.

Hao did not have to enter Ren's mind to know what he was thinking of, most likely either how great he was or he was thinking of the strangers that they had brought back with them from America.

That's when he decided to listen to _their _thoughts. He turned his head to view the three strangers, well the ones who were strangers to those who were not him and Annaka.

He found out that he once again he could not read the heads of two of them and he knew why too.

So he decided to listen to the fake queen's head instead, to see what people made of dirt and elemental powers thought of. To his surprise, the girl's thoughts were somehow relevant to his dreams, at least to that boy he had seen in his dreams.

The fake Anna was angry at Nagehiko for not appearing as she had ordered him to, she was planning a horrible punishment for when she found him. If you looked close enough you could practically see the flames in her dark eyes, fury burning up inside.

But Hao had learned something very interesting from listening to that girl's thoughts, it turns out that-

"Asakura Yoh, could you please explain to us your opinion in the rise of our technology?" Tamaki-Sensei asked, making Hao realize where he still was.

Just when the teacher thought that he had finally had caught "Yoh" not paying attention, Hao spoke his mind.

"It's an apocalypse," he said in a voice so dark and deep that everyone in the room got chills from the coldness of his voice, "as technology increases nature is destroyed and so is everything that is meant to be perfect and beautiful in this world will eventually perish under the creations human come up with."

Everyone eyed him with careful eyes, Annaka stared at him with blank horror for saying something "un-Yoh-like". Hao didn't get the signal from her or any of the other shamans in the room; he just opened his eyes and looked right at Tamaki-Sensei, "Do you not agree with my theory, Sensei?"

The teacher blinked, looking at Hao for a full, impassive moment before his the corners of his mouth turned downwards and grimed. "Certainly not." the man said, a frown appearing on his lips now.

Hao cocked a brow, feeling small bubbles forming slowly inside him, "Then you are an idiot just like the rest of those humans who'd rather kill the earth in order to increase their knowledge of what is already dead."

There was a gasp from some of the girls as they stared at Hao in awe, none of them had ever thought that "Asakura Yoh" could possibly be this way. Manta shivered in his seat and looked over at his other friends.

None of them seem too happy in what was taking place at the moment.

The teacher glared at Hao with rage, to call a teacher an idiot was like saying that lions were vegetarians, it just didn't fit. "You think you know more than me, Asakura Yoh?" he asked in a belittling tone.

Hao smirked and closed his eyes, propping his arm up on the table and resting his head on his hand, "A thousand years more, I bet." –Tamaki-Sensei grimaced- "But not only me," he continued, "I bet Kyoyama could surpass your knowledge as well as I can."

All eyes turned to Annaka, she just glared at her husband menacingly, _'Hao, no.'_

Sensei began to laugh, "Haha! Asakura, you really believe _you're _smarter than I? Hahaha! To think that _Asakura Yoh _believes this! As I recall, Asakura, ever since Kyoyama-san has arrived your grades have dropped tremendously, and you expect me to accept that you are more intellectual than I?"

Those bubbles inside of Hao bursted, this man, this _human, _thought himself to have a higher intelligence than him. Not only that but he was also suggesting something private between Yoh and Anna to the class. He truly wanted to burn this man right on the spot.

"Kisama…" Hao growled under his breath.

"What was that?" the teacher said, smiling tauntingly at him. "Repeat it and you're out of here, Asakura."

A hot ripple of anger filled his veins as he took a strong step towards the man, flames started to emert from his fingers, burning holes in the piece of paper he held in one hand. "Please, sir." he said forcefully, straining to keep his voice as polite as possible. "I'd rather not know how much stupidity humans have, killing every damn thing in their way just to increase intelligence that isn't going to belong to them."

"You think you know what's better for the world Asakura Yoh?" the teacher asked, grinning broadly. "I know more than you ever could, so sit down and listen to my theory of the future inventions I am planning to bring about."

Hao's eyes were mulitiuos, and already students aside him were cowering in fear.

Annaka, from her seat, glared at Hao warningly. "Don't do it," she muttered under her breath. _'You are Asakura Yoh right now, try to act like it!'_

"You know Sensei," Hao snarled, "They say a person who was born in a caul has a special ability, a sort of sixth sense, so to say. And they possess things no normal human can do."

"Your point, Asakura?" the teacher asked, the smile totally erased from his face now; it was replaced by a horrid look.

"I was born in a caul." He menacingly growled

Manta let out an involuntary shiver; let most of the others in the class. It was not usual to see Hao lose his temper; his eyes were in dangerous slits, his hands blazing with fire, and it was then when Hao seemed to turn back into what he was before...The Greatest Threat to Humans.

"Dang it," Annaka muttered, jumping to her feet. She got in front of Hao and slammed her hands down on his metal desk, forming two dents in his desk. "Enough, Asakura," she ordered, her eyes forming flames that could possibly melt her brown contacts right off.

Hao tightened, but he didn't calm down, "Move out of the way," he hissed, Annaka noticing the flames around him becoming hotter.

Annaka turned to Tamaki-Sensei, "Sensei, OUT!" she ordered, "And take everyone with you."

"But-"

"NOW!"

Everyone did as they were told and scurried out of there like an army of ants. Annaka turned back to Hao as soon as everyone was out, he was still filled with rage at Sensei's words, suddenly anger was taking Annaka over as well without any clue why. Then, before she could notice, she did something she had never done before…

_**SLAP!**_

Hao cupped his red cheek with his hand, and stared at Annaka in horror and disbelief, Annaka…had just slapped him.

Annaka stared into his eyes, revealing a small hint of terror as he stared into hers with incredibility.

Annaka looked at the hand she had slapped her husband with and noticed the pain from it even hurt her, her hand was bright red and suddenly she felt her pulse through it.

With that same hand she placed it over her mouth, suddenly becoming weak at the knees, then she fell to her knees and coughed up blood.

________________________________________________________________________

**I KNOW.I ALL HATE ME FOR TAKING SO LONG TO UPLOAD THE CHAPTER WELL TO MAKE UP FOR IT I MADE THIS CHAPTER 42 PAGES LONG! 11 PAGES MORE THAN NORMAL. **

**I KNOW I HAVE TO EXPLAIN MYSELF FOR NOT WRITING. WELL…I'VE BEEN TRYING TO IMPROVE MY WRITING FOR A WHILE SO I REWROTETHIS CHAPTER LIKE 5 TIMES TO MAKE IT SUITABLE FOR YOU GUYS. ALSO I THINK I'M DISEASE PRONE BUT THAT WON'T STOP ME ^-^**

**NO TIME FOR REVIEW RESPONSES RIGHT NOW BUT PLEASE LEAVE YOUR REVIEWS.**

**BTW **Hpcs2 - Suprema Onmyoji Isah **THANK YOU FOR THOSE SCANS, I'LL HELP WHEN I WRITE FUNBARI NO UTA ^-^**

**OH & **Night-glider **SORRY IT WASN'T THAT MUCH YOHxANNA THIS TIME BUT I'LL MAKE IT UP FOR YOU ON THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!**

**AND TO ANYONE WHO CARES, CHECK MY PROFILE SOON BECAUSE I'LL HAVE SOME PICS OF THIS STORY SHOWING YOU THE NEW CHARACTERS SO Y'ALL GET A VISUAL**

**R&R!!!**

**Crystel Hidalgo/YohAnna4eva**


	13. Why? & What?

School had finished only about a few minutes ago and our shamans now found themselves coming through the doors of the Funbari inn. Ren was the first to come through the door and his eyes burst, a storm of rage within him. "Jun!! What is _that_?!" he yelled in a rage that could lift the hairs on one's arm, pointing viciously to a wall in the living room.

From the kitchen, Jun peeked her head into the living room and blinked curiously at her brother before giving a small gentile smile. "Welcome back, everyone!" she cheerfully welcomed.

Ren's hair spiked to the ceiling, everyone around him moved away, knowing the Tao's great temper, Arisu looked up at the long spiked and whispered, "Amazing," in her high soprano-like voice.

"Don't act so cheery when I'm talking to you!" Ren shouted at his cheery sister. Jun smiled and came into the living room where Ren and the others stood looking at the wall. Everyone stared at the enlarged photo that took up most of the wall. Jun smiled.

"It was such a cute picture that I decided to place it there!" she said proudly, clapping her hands together in joy as she admired her work. Her eyes got filled with sudden warmth, "It's the last picture we all took together," she monologued, loud enough so that everyone could hear the hint of sadness in her voice, "I wanted to place it there as a memory, until they come back."

That silenced not only Ren, but all the others in the room that had been snickering at the Tao siblings' pointless quarrel. The picture was a group photo of everyone that was on Mu, celebrating the fact Yoh had become Shaman King, it was taken right before Yoh and Anna left to go inside the Great Spirit, in the picture the were in between everyone, with Hana in Anna's arms. They all stared at the image of the two missing members of their "family". But a certain pink haired girl looked at it with an ache in her heart; she turned to the miniature sleeping figure of the man she loved, seeing the same face in the two. Then she let out a sigh.

"Ano…" she said towards the others, taking a slow bow, "With your permission I shall go and prepare dinner." With that said she went to the kitchen, her shoulders slumped in a sort of depressed mood.

Lyserg watched as the pink haired girl disappeared behind the wall that separated the living room area from the kitchen, "Tamao-san seems to miss Yoh-kun the most out of all of us," he said observantly.

Ren rolled his eyes, "The girl has a crush on an almost-married-man, leave her to do what she wishes," he stated harshly grabbing his Kwan-Dao and making his way towards the door.

"Where're ya going, Ren?" Chocolove asked, as he watched the Tao getting closer and closer to the exit of the inn.

"Training." He said curtly, "When Yoh gets back I'm planning on seeing how strong he has become. I'll have to become stronger in order to accomplish this."

Horohoro scoffed as the Tao left the room, "The bastard thinks he can beat The Shaman King…what a joke!" he protested, making sure it was loud enough for his aloof and ego-centric teammate to hear.

Chocolove piped up, "Speaking of jokes-"

The African shaman was interrupted by a sudden fist that knocked him on the top of his head. Emmetto had punched him in one quick unexpected motion, then he placed his arm in his usual position, crossing them in front of his chest. "I'll go to my room now," he said, acting as if Chocolove wasn't on the floor with a huge bump on his head.

Arisu watched as he walked up the stairs completely aloof to the others making harsh comments, she turned to them and gave a quick bow, "Gomenasen!" she said in a quick motion then she darted up the stairs then stopped mid-way up. "It'll start to rain any second, so I suggest the other three hurry up and come back soon."

She ran up the stairs once more, both Lyserg and Jeanne looking curiously at her, the others making comments on the curt blonde haired boy with the attitude. Nianna stood at a corner, seeming completely invisible to the others, her black bangs covered her eyes as her body faced the photo.

'_These people…they're like family. They worry and protect one another they have wishes to be together. Even though being the Shaman King means death to the one who is crowned, they still wait for him to return.' _She raised her head and looked at the sleeping baby that lay on the couch, sucking its small and fragile thumb as you could here soft breaths of air going in and out of him tiny mouth. Nianna's eyes grew warm. _'For 3 years I have been without anyone to call a family, I was looked down on by Goldva who always would say that I was nothing but a spec of dust and elements resembling a great woman. Nichrome was the only one of the Patch besides Goldva to know of my existence and he too belittled me. That's when I had enough of being looked down on and I revived the spirit of Nagehiko.' _She walked over and sat on the couch beside of Hana and watched Horohoro wrap his hands around Chocolove's neck, shaking him violently as the African shaman recited another joke. Lyserg and Jeanne just smiled at the humorous scene and Ryu drooling as he stared at the maiden. The black haired Anna sighed, _'These scenes are the very definition of family. They have loved ones beside them, while I had to make my own. Soraguimi is not my family, they are wandering shamans searching for a loved one, I only agreed to help so that I could escape Goldva and her ending my life.'_ She gazed at Hana once more, _'What do you think Hana-chan? If my time wasn't soon to end I would search for a way to stop myself from aging, only until you were my age, then I could have a family for my defects have cause me to imprint on you. Maybe…someday I could have something as kind and important…something…like family.'_

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Yoh placed his hand on the doorknob to Cadm's house. He sighed, Anna-chan had been crying for three _long _hours, so long that the wide ocean in the sky had slowly darkened, gaining tiny white orbs that floated over the sky's pool of purple and black. He felt useless at the time, it's hard to save someone from their own family, also…all this has already happen, so what's the point in doing anything about it?

He opened the door and was immediately welcomed by Cadm, who was finishing up his last suitcase for tomorrow. "Welcome back Yoh-sama!" he called as he was finally able to close the enormous suitcase he had left. He looked at Yoh and noticed his expression; he got down and took a seat at the table. "What happened this time?" he asked.

Yoh sighed and took the seat in front of Cadm, "Cadm, what do you know…of Kyoyama Damasu?"

Cadm's expression was unreadable; he sat there quietly, thinking of what to say. but it wasn't him who seemed ready to answer the question. Ohachiyo appeared on the chair beside Cadm, his arms crossed and his expression grim. "So…that bastard's back, huh?" he questioned Yoh.

Yoh gave a nod, Ohachiyo closed his eyes and frowned, "That man," he began with a dark voice, "he is evil." –Yoh raised his brows- "Damasu works for the Oyamada Company, he's a skilled doctor, the kind of doctor who finds your cause of death by examining your corpse. Hmm," Ohachiyo's face became thoughtful, "he must be here after looking over Shio Yui's corpse."

Cadm nodded his head in total agreement, "That must be the only reason, and obviously he must believe Anna has something to do with it. After all he does believe her to be-"

"'A Queen of Demons?' Yeah I heard." Yoh added, disturbed by the fact anyone would accuse Anna of being such thing, especially after seeing what a kind and gentle girl Anna used to be.

Ohachiyo busted out laughing, kicking his feet high up in the air, nearly falling out of his chair from all the movement he made while laughing, "Hahaha! Are you kidding me?! Anna being _our Queen_?! Hahahaha!"

Cadm glared at the laughing demon while Yoh was just stared dumbfoundedly, "Ano…there isn't such thing as that, is there?"

Cadm looked at Ohachiyo, Ohachiyo looked at Cadm and straightened up, clearing his throat, "I guess it can't be helped. Yoh no baka," he turned his eyes on the brunette and the seriousness in them increased, "we demons do have a Queen."

"NANI?!!"

Cadm rapidly covered Yoh's mouth, telling him to be silent. "Shh. Yoh-sama you must be silent of this, this is a secret not even the Patch know of. I have been informed because of my relationship with Ohachiyo, I am not to know this either." Cadm informed.

Yoh's eyes grew a great amount, he gulped and took a deep breathe when Cadm took his hand off of his mouth; then, once he caught his breathe, he turned to Ohachiyo, "Who is your Queen?" he asked in a low whisper.

Ohachiyo made himself comfortable in his chair and leisurely laid back on it, "We don't know," he calmly said.

"?!"

The demon opened his eyes and sternly stared at Yoh as he spoke, "The Queen's identity is an unknown secret to us, only the kings of hell know of whom she is, but they don't bother to interfere with anything that has to do with her because…the Queen is scary."

"Nani?" both Cadm and Yoh asked, obviously Ohachiyo has not informed Cadm as much as he's informing Yoh at the moment.

"Like the Shaman King, our Queen is chosen every five hundred years, or at least, she reincarnates every five hundred years. I met her at the last Shaman Fight, she…looks like a normal person, she is known as 'a fox in disguise'. That much is true. But, the problem is that her reincarnation is similar to Hao's, she reincarnates and remembers everything in her previous lives. Thus making her a great threat if she were angered."

"…"

Ohachiyo stared at Yoh for a brief moment before he decided to go on, "There is a reason I haven't told the Patch about this, you know."

Yoh blinked and scooted and inch forward on his chair, "What's the reason?"

"…………Mappa Douji burned our Queen to ashes five hundred years ago."

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"I expected more from you, Asakura."

"Yes sir."

"You have the ability to get higher."

"Yes sir."

"I want you to promise me you'll concentrate on your studies more and NOT torment Tamaki-Sensei, much less threaten him, if you have a problem you come to me, do you hear me?"

"Yes sir."

The principal looked at Hao suspiciously before glancing at Manta, who was sitting in the chair beside Hao; he raised his eyebrows at the both of them. He seemed to make a decision of Hao's actions, and now turned to speak to Manta "I believe your father's company will be paying for the damages caused by Asakura Yoh's...actions, Oyamada?"

"Yes sir," Manta sadly muttered under his breath, "every single penny."

The principal stopped in front of the door, his hand on the door handle, pulling the door open. "You may now leave, Asakura Yoh. I'll be having a talk with Oyamada about the cost of the repairs," he said before Hao left the room, a blank look on his face.

The principal closed the door and turned to face Manta, "Interesting friend you have there, Oyamada. A few trips to America and it seem as if he's another person." Manta laughed sheepishly at the principal's almost correct theory. "In fact it seems I'm no the only one who finds him interesting." The principal stated casually, returning to his seat.

"Nani?" Manta asked, curious to know what the principal seemed to be stating of.

"Our school has a new superintendent and it seems she is interested in Asakura and Kyoyama."

"R-really?" Manta asked worriedly, why would someone be so interested in Hao and Annaka? Or at least, Yoh and Anna?

The principal scratched his chin and turned to Manta as he bent down and at his desk, "Tell me something, Oyamada. What Asakura said, about him and Kyoyama being smarter than Tamaki-sensei, do you find it true?"

"H-hai." Manta admitted. What was the harm in simply stating his opinion, right?

"I see. Well then, Oyamada, I have something for you to do for me."

----------

"How is she?" Hao asked as he walked into the infirmary, Love-Senpai was looking over Annaka, who sat on bed. Love-Senpai looked up from the thermometer that was placed in Annaka's mouth.

"She just stressed herself too far, something must've become overbearing enough to cause this reaction from her body. It doesn't surprise me though, her body is weak, but not to worry, she only has 3 more months-"

Love-Senpai stopped as she felt Annaka placed two fingers on her forehead, wincing at the girl's unexpected touch; Annaka stared blankly at Love-Senpai before slowly bowing her head, and softly whispering, "Memory erased."

Manta came through the door at that very moment, just in time to witness Love-Senpai instantly faint and fall down to the glittering wooden floor. "Eh?! Annaka-san what did you do?!" he yelled in shock, forgetting they were still on campus and that it was possible for anyone to come on and notice the name Manta had just called the blonde.

Annaka jumped off the bed, walking over to pick up her school bag, she slung it over her shoulder before turning to Manta with a glare, "Erased her memory, is there a problem?" –Manta shook his head, in fear of the blonde's glare- "Good," she said, "Then we should leave before she wakes up."

Manta, following orders almost instantly, headed out the door in a hurry to stop by his locker before heading back home, Annaka was about to go out the door as well until a strong hand grabbed her arm. She turned her head and saw Hao staring at her with deep eyes that were completely unknown to her. "What are you hiding from me?" he blankly asked, pulling her towards him as he spoke.

Annaka yanked her arm out of his grasp and turned her back to him, "I'll tell you on our way to the inn," she promised, walking out to meet up with Manta.

Hao followed behind, a serious but calm look planted on his face as he walked directly behind his wife. When they got to Manta he was already prepared to leave and step into the black car that had Tamurazaki at the wheel. Annaka got a hold of Manta's collar and dragged him beside, "Head back to the inn, you'll spend the night there for tonight, got it?" she ordered softly into his ear, Manta nodded to show that he understood, Annaka let go of his collar and let him step into the car to drive on back to the inn.

Annaka turned to Hao after Manta's car drove off, Hao had two umbrellas in his hands and handed one to her, then they both headed out the door with the rain softly falling on their umbrellas.

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Arisu threw her school bag in a far corner of the room she and Wilhelmina shared, then she threw herself on top of her futon and made herself comfortable. Once she got comfortable she raised her head to look at Wilhelmina, who sat on the floor with her legs crossed, a map of Tokyo in her hands. Emmetto was leaning against the wall looking out the small window that showed the large dark clouds in the sky and the tiny droplets of water coming down hard against everything that took place under the sky.

The small pixie looked outside as the drops of rain began to pour down even harder against the roof of the inn, "The rain came down quickly…" she said to herself, a perfect grin creeping up her face, "it's bound to come down harder."

Emmetto turned to view his younger teammate with eyes of total boredom, "You're hungry," he curtly said. Was this a question or a curt statement? No normal person would be able to tell, but then again, it seemed as if this team known as Soraguimi wasn't normal. Not normal shamans and much less normal humans, if that were the case…then what were they?

If we had enough believe in the supernatural, as humans, one would believe many things. For example, their unnatural beauty would make one think they were gods or goddesses that turned themselves mortal, but why would any god/goddess wish to turn themselves mortal? Their pale skin and perfect selves could lead one to think of them as vampires, but we know that those have never existed, for they have always been shamans mistaken for their special ability. Another option could be that these three are fallen angels, but yet…aren't fallen angels also known as…demons?

From where she sat on the floor, Wilhelmina smirked at Emmetto's statement, her topaz eyes rose to look at her teammate then they guided their way over to Arisu. "If you refer to the need to increase our vitality…then yes…we would find ourselves covetous."

Arisu smiled, though it seemed to be a sort of sad smile as she closed her eyes, "This will be our final dinner together…."

Both the blond and the red head looked towards the coal haired pixie, their eyes having the same expression, their faces both having the same mien. Arisu opened her eyes, a small glint of sadness in them. "Today…Hao-oni-chan remembered," she informed sadly, her voice soft and depressed, "meaning…pretty soon Annaka-san will realized what we are up to…"

"Meaning we have to act fast," Wilhelmina informed gravely, getting up from her position on the floor, dusting off her clothes with one hand, "when that girl realizes what we are doing she'll try to stop us."

Arisu looked at Wilhelmina in horror "But Mina-san!-"

"No buts!" the Chinese red head exclaimed, crossing her arms in front of her, she turned her back to her, her wine red curls bouncing as she did.

Arisu winced at Wilhelmina's tone, Hoshi appeared protectively in front of her, growling harshly at the Chinese girl. Sora, Wilhelmina's spirit, appeared on Wilhelmina's shoulder, facing Hoshi and spreading out his wings as he let out a few menacing shrieks. Arisu turned to Emmetto who calmly stood at the corner, his back leaning against the wall.

"Em-Oni-Chan, onegai! Tell Mina-san it's not time yet! We still have some time! We can wait!" she pleaded, bringing her hands together in prayer form as she gazed at him desperately.

Emmetto stared at the small girl for a moment, then turned his face away from her, "Why do you want to wait?" he asked in a blank tone. Arisu lowered her hands and just stared. Emmetto continued to look away, "You want to stay because you want to retrieve the heart of _him_ don't you?"

The young pixie girl kept her eyes on him for a few seconds, then she lowered her head, her black bangs covering her eyes. "I am still a child," she stated softly, "years have past and I have had many offers of men…but…I always turned them down. I've had enough men to confess to me each day, so much that I could fill the palm of my hand with off of their words. But……I…still love _him_. I was young back then, I know, but…" –she blushed-"if I ever wanted one to thrust me with their naked weapon and slice of my maidenhead…then it would _only _be _him_."

Wilhelmina gave a chuckle, "You want to live a little longer to retrieve the heart of someone who doesn't know who you are, truly." She frowned and turned to face Emmetto and Arisu, "Em," she began in a serious tone, "you want to accomplish our goal the most out of all of us, do you not? You want to bring _her_ soul back."

Arisu's eyes widened as she yelled in remark, "Don't use _her _against Em-Oni-Chan, Mina-san! That's cruel! Iie! Iie!" she turned to Emmetto once more, "Em-Oni-chan, don't listen to her, she-"

"-Ari…stop acting like a child," the blond boy emotionlessly ordered. He closed his for a few seconds as he thought about it, as he thought with his eyes shut he spoke, "Wilhelmina, don't bring _her _into this. I have not forgotten my goal." He opened his eyes and they were like golden daggers striking into ones' fears, "I _will _bring her back." he finally said.

The black haired pixie girl stared at him in disappointment, she lowered her head, her hair shadowing her face, "You…you're just like me…thou art a child!" she insulted him, she raised her head and her eyes were glassy, as if wanting to let out the heavy liquid that was bubbled up inside…but not a tear ever came. Instead she walked over to the window, stopping right in front of it.

And in one quick motion, she pulled back her arm in a tight fist and rammed it against the window, shattering the glass into billions of fragments; she placed her arm beside her, not a tear of blood coming from it. Then she threw herself out the window, disappearing into the dark bottomless pit that was the darkness of the night.

Emmetto blankly stared at the spot where the girl once stood, he could hear the girls footsteps as she ran far from the in, "Where do you think she went?" he asked Wilhelmina.

The girl just stood there, her arms crossed in front of her large chest and smirked evilly, "To eat," she responded slyly, "It's dinner time."

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Yoh sighed, too much had gone on that day, too much for him to handle. He had been through worse, it was true, but something about all that has happened bothered the Shaman King to great extent. "I wonder what Anna did while I was gone?" he finally asked himself as he went up the stair to his room. He got to the door and placed his hand on the knob, turning it and slightly opening the door, peeking inside and then letting himself in. "Anna?" he called as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Nani Yoh?" Anna called back in a drowsy voice.

Yoh's eyes adjusted to the darkness long enough to see that Anna had been asleep on the futon, already in her yukata and, possibly, half asleep. "Ah, did I wake you?" Yoh asked, walking over to the futon and taking a seat beside her lying body.

Anna shook her head, placing a hand on her forehead and laying back down in the futon, "It's fine, I've been sleeping all day. I don't see how you can do that, it just makes you more tired," she protested, a frown on her face.

Yoh grinned, "I just have more experience than you," he laughed, he look down at the bag in his hands, "Oh! That reminds me!" –He held the bag out in front of her- "Here."

The blonde took the bag from his hand, Yoh stood up to go and change into his yukata, "What is it?" Anna asked, taking a small look inside as she asked this. She immediately closed the bag and blushed, "You actually went into a store like this?" she softly whispered.

Yoh, who was now tying on his yukata, blushed as well, "Eh…actually…Anna-chan went in and bought it all for you…I stood outside," he lied.

Anna narrowed her eyes at him, seeing right through his horrible lie, due to her being in the shop watching him and her younger self, yet she let the lie slide by. Yoh finished tying his yukata on and began to walk back to the futon, she placed the covers over them as Yoh laid himself beside her, "Either way, you should sleep." She told him, "Tomorrow will be a long day." _'Too long for you to bear...'_ she turned to her side to lie on, her back facing Yoh.

He stared at her back with eyes of eternal and perfect warmth, even from the back the Queen seem impossibly perfect, even in her yukata she was flawless, and the way the moonlight from the window shined around her delicate body made her seem like an angel. If Anna were ever to be made immortal then she could replace the Goddess of Beauty herself.

Oh how he loved her. He enjoyed being with her, her coldness and emotionless never drew him away from her, instead it drew him close due to his desires to open her heart. And he had succeeded several times, the biggest time of them all was on "that" night. The day both of their love came together. The day he thought his heart confessed its thoughts to the wind, but he confessed his love to her, a touch of her closeness profound, until the space between them was gone.

He remembered, that night, how he laid his head on her bosom, how lovely was the music of her heart. Indeed, Anna had a heart, a heart that loved him, and he loved back.

He suddenly remembered all the memories he had thought of these last few days, but each time he did he would end up remembering "that" night. And each time he would remember that night his heart would begin to pound hard, trying to leave his chest and go to Anna, sweat dripping down his forehead because of those strange urges he had and wanted to fulfill.

Yes, the Shaman King wanted to repeat that night.

The night that he felt him and her become one and fully express their love for each other, he felt like a man that had been at sea all of his life, desiring to see and reach land, and his hope and desires not fulfilling as soon as he wished them to. Oh how badly he wanted to reach that land, the land called Anna.

Anna stared out the window, the moon shining brightly on her face, puzzling over the unknown events that would occur tomorrow until she felt Yoh's warm hand on her shoulder. She turned around, eyeing him in curiosity as she noticed his hesitant mein.

Could tonight be the night that he told her this? Could he really tell her that he wanted to make love to her once more?

'_Tell her.' _His mind persuaded him, a voice so eager that he wished to accomplish its orders.

"I. . ." he stuttered, his heart hammering against his ribs. For a fleeting moment it seemed like he was going to speak before he shook her head, looking away. "It's nothing." he muttered. "Nothing."

Anna blinked at him, staring straight into his eyes, almost desperately trying to find reason within the words he spoke. When she received nothing but that curt reply, she turned her back to him, and started to close her eyes again.

'_Yoh no baka, TELL HER!'_

"I… I want to make love to you again!" Yoh blurted out, and regretted doing so quite soon after, immediately wincing as his words left his mouth and echoed in his head, absolutely no way of taking those words back.

Anna turned back to face him, the expression on her face was quite unlike others Yoh had seen. It was a powerful mixture of shock, puzzlement and amazement, and she simply gaped at him. "What . . . did you just say?" she asked Yoh, her eyes wide in exclamation.

"I said. . ." he whispered, forcing himself to repeat those words that were causing him to turn such a dark shade of red, trying to force his cowardly chocolate eyes to look back into Anna's. "I said . . . I want to make love to you again." he finished, his voice throbbing with warmth.

At first she just laid there, frozen; her heart, which seemed to have swollen to an unnatural size, was thumping painfully against her ribs. Anna gazed at him in dazed wonderment, before looking down at her pillow, sighing depressingly. "I'm sorry," she whispered, but she did not look up to meet his eyes sad. "Not...not tonight, Yoh."

He nodded in obvious disappointment, sighing, then giving her a gentile smile, "It's fine Anna," he stated, wrapping his arms around her small, perfect body, "I can wait," he assured her. Anna gazed up at him, Yoh's smile seemed to assure her _he_ was fine with it, _but_ she wasn't.

"Yoh," she said, squirming inside his arms, curiosity tugging at her head, "what made you bring this up?"

Yoh rested his head on his pillow, pulling Anna closer to him, close enough that she could hear how much the beating of his heart increased, "I've been thinking about this for a while, actually" he began with a sigh, "ever since _that_ night. Um…at least, after it."

The brunette blushed as he remembered _that_ night, Anna's eyes grew in realization as she processed the fact in her head; Yoh had been desiring her for quite a while now.

He brought his head to rest on Anna's shoulder, burying his face in the cloth of her yukata, "Ah, this is a little embarrassing" he muffled on her shoulder. "…do you want me to explain more?" –Anna nodded, wanting to get inside Yoh's head at the moment- "Ano… I thought that if I didn't hurt you the first time, that maybe I would hurt you the second or third time, so…I tried not to think anything of you, tried not having any urges to take you once more, but…it was hard and…I couldn't. instead I thought a lot more of it, basically everyday…" –He sighed- "it's hard not to think of how much I love you when my heart pounds roughly against my chest just from seeing your face in my head."

Anna felt a tug at her lips, and a bit of blood rush to her cheeks, "Baka," she muttered, half amused at his words. Yoh just gave a small embarrassed laugh, "Hehe, gomen Anna."

Their lips were barely a centimeter away now, she knew he was waiting for her to decide what to do. She knew he would not dare to do anything without her permission. God, she loved him.

She loved him.

Yes. . .she loved him.

"I love you too." she whispered before pressing her lips against his. His heart leapt as he kissed her back, not with fierce lust, but softly and sweetly, knowing her feelings.

Anna also wished for her and Yoh to… but the great Kyoyama Anna was worried. Yoh was in her head, her lost memories of her childhood, and even Yoh knew…Anna's past was covered in blood. Yet the idiot wanted to know of her past, of all the blood that was drawn, of all the people that she killed. But she didn't want him to know. He'd been so understanding for the moment, but he has not seem what was yet to come. Tomorrow, on Christmas, someone else was going to be killed by her oni, she was sure, even though the memory of that Christmas was blank. Her only memory of this Christmas was waking up in a hospital bed and people crying, yelling outside her door, fights between her brother and father, and then six days later…red snow.

No. she did not want Yoh to see anymore of her memories. No more. Yet she too…wanted to be his again…

She let out a sigh when their lips parted from each other, her heart ached dearly "Yoh," she whispered softly, closing her eyes tightly as she reached for his yukata and pulled herself up to his chest, "tomorrow," she promised.

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"May I ask what you're doing, Lyserg?"

Lyserg looked up beside him to see the young Iron Maiden Jeanne reading over his shoulder, her red eyes glazing at the piece of paper that was under his pencil. He blushed at seeing the closeness of her face and turned back to his paper, "I am writing to my grandfather." He began explaining, "I'm pretty sure that if I explain to him all the lies that Hao told us then Grandfather will tell me that they really are lies."

Jeanne's gaze turned to view the green haired boy beside her, "What if they aren't lies, Lyserg? Will you accept the truth if you know it?"

Lyserg's pencil stopped its movement, pressing itself hard against the sheet of paper, the lead breaking into graphite dust. "I'm…not sure," he hesitated, "to think…my ancestor would take part in Hao's team…I'm not sure I would ever believe such a thing." –Jeanne nodded in understanding- "but, what I don't understand is…"

The Iron Maiden blinked as Lyserg trailed off, she got closer to him to see if he was fine; Lyserg was blushing, the color of red on his cheeks greatly contrasting with his hair. In realization of what he was about to say, "Oh," she said softly, taking a seat on Lyserg's bed, "who knows? Maybe our ancestors were really close…"

Lyserg's heart began pumping at an unusual rate; he grasped his shirt, thinking maybe it would slow his heart rate down. When he turned back to Jeanne, Lyserg found the Iron Maiden blushing for no reason he could immediately discern. He did note that she was looking at him in a rather embarrassed way and that her cheeks did look cute when they were crimson. He gave her a nervous smile, "Maybe," was all he said before turning back to the letter for his grandpa.

--

Ren came back from his usual training outside with Bason, the big Chinese warrior hovering over him; he was walking down the upstairs hallway, a towel hanging around his neck to dry the bare upper half of his body.

He was only a few doors away from his room, which was when he saw Marco standing at the door to Lyserg's room.

Marco was peeking through a medium size crack in the door, looking outraged, stunned, furious, and dumb all at the same time, clenching and unclenching his hands as if he was trying to squeeze the life out of something in them; the veins on his forehead had never looked bigger. His eyes were so huge Ren was sure they were about to pop out of their sockets.

Ren rolled his eyes and continued to walk, but he stopped a few steps after passing Marco, "I would've never thought you would've ease dropped on something as simple as those two being in the same room together," he said coolly, taking his towel and drying the sides of his face.

Marco ignored the Tao and continued to supervise through the door, Ren just shrugged and slid open the door to his room, and entered, "Four-eyed idiot," he whispered before sliding the door shut.

The X-law could not help but to glare at his two treasures as they sat there, Lyserg in his oversized white jammies writing rapidly on his desk, and Jeanne in her usual baggy pink shorts, topless with only her hair to cover her upper body. Marco tightened his two fists in jealousy, Lyserg was a good boy, he knew, but he was still a man.

"Lyserg, what is this?" he heard The Maiden ask, holding up a grey and old wrinkly paper in her hands and placing it in front of Lyserg.

Lyserg looked at it for a moment and said, "Homework. After Annaka-san slapped Hao into the wall the damages were so much we were required to move to another room. Well the classroom assigned to us was History, and we're learning about Joan D'Arc."

"I see," The Iron Maiden pawned, looking at the old article curiously.

The green-haired X-Law nodded as he continued to write, "Yes, was a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII. While living, she was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court, and burned at the stake when she was nineteen years old. Joan asserted that she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War."

The silver haired maiden arced a perfect brow as she softly asked, "How are they sure this women was burned at the stake? Could it be possible that she may have escaped?"

"Witnesses documented it."

"I still do not believe such thing happened, why would anyone stake a saint for heresy? Saints are the purest of God's servants," Jeanne frowned.

"Maybe she wasn't truly a saint, but a witch disguised as one." The young X-Law shook his head. "The irony of people's images," he mumbled to himself, "trying to be something they never were and in the end they end us having to pay for their actions."

Jeanne blinked at him, not believing what she just heard. Were those words uttered by the same boy who is required to protect her? _Her angel, _Diethyl Lyserg? She couldn't believe it.

"Lyserg…" she said timidly, quickly rising from his bed, "please excuse me—"

He quickly held her hand, "Wait, Jeanne-sama, don't let my agnosticism frighten you. Forgive me if I said something to frighten you, you can have Marco punish me later if you wish," he said, nervously.

The Iron Maiden looked down at the floor, she had given Lyserg the wrong impression by quickly trying to run out of the room like that, "You are not forgiven, for you have done nothing wrong, it is I that…that had done horrible things. So who am I to be speaking of God's servants?"

Lyserg suddenly felt his heart ache, he had saddened the Holy Maiden by practically insulting her deeds and here she was saying he had done nothing wrong. "Jeanne-sama…"

He was interrupted by Morphine, who flew in the door, past Marco, and went over to him, holding a photo in her tiny hands. Lyserg let go of the young maiden's arm and took the photo from Morphine, "Thank you Morphine. Grandpa will be able to remember better with a photograph," he said as he walked back over to his desk and placed the letter and the photo inside an envelope. "I'll need you to take this to England and give it personally to Grandpa, it'll be faster than regular mail, could you do it for me?" he asked his spirit with a kind and tender smile. Morphine quickly nodded and took the envelope; spreading her tiny pink wings and making her way back out.

Jeanne watched as the small fairy made her way out the door, then she turned to her X-Law, "I bid you good-night then, Lyserg," she said, gently curtsying, her long hair still hiding her breast from the view of the young X-Law. Lyserg frowned as a thought came upon his thoughts, Jeanne noticed this, "What is wrong?"

He shook his head rapidly, "N-nothing!" he stuttered, not wanting to imagine anyone's reaction to what he had thought of just now.

Jeanne took a step closer towards him, and she stared into his eyes for a brief moment. From the doorway, Marco felt the urge to knock the door down and take the Maiden to her room. Lyserg gasped as Jeanne got on her tip toes and placed her forehead on his, closing her eyes for those few seconds. "J-Jeanne-s-sama," he stuttered once more.

Jeanne found herself inordinately absorbed over the spectacle of a green-haired dowser turning tomato red right before her very eyes. Lyserg had an amusing way of expressing embarrassment: First he'd seem a touch too quiet; then the blood rapidly rose up to his cheeks as he realized whatever mistake he made, and then so cute he'd begin stuttering rapid apologies and tripping on every word.

Just like now.

She smiled in that beautiful way she always did, and on some strange impulse she let her hand pressed upon his own most gently. Her concern at his odd actions abated and was forgotten; his panic died away and replaced with sheepish reluctance. "Good-night, Lyserg," she said as she pulled away from him and turned around, walking towards the door.

"Marco will murder me," Lyserg sighed, as he watched her go, pretty soon he turned around and threw himself on his bed, looking at the ceiling until her voice was heard once more.

"Lyserg, may I ask you a question?"

"H-hai!"

"If I were a bit more of age…would…would you be attracted to me?"

Lyserg sat up from his bed in a swift jerking motion, Marco felt his glasses break, but during all of this the small maiden just stared at the boy blankly, waiting for his answer.

Words would not suffice. Words sometimes couldn't.

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Hao and Annaka walked home in silence.

Hao and Annaka kept sneaking glances at each other, wondering in their head whether the other person who angry at them or simply waiting for them to start a conversation, and whether they should speak or wait for the other person to start a topic. It was after a few glances when their eyes finally met, and Annaka looked away, her face turning crimson. Hao sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets

"You're mad at me aren't you?" he asked her.

Annaka stopped dead in her tracks, the small droplets of water making soft sounds against her umbrella, she sighed, "Not as much as I am disappointed," she admitted, lowering her head so that her hair would hide the expression on her face. "But then again…you are the one who seems to be mad at me."

Hao shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not, I haven't decided yet," he told her. Annaka frowned at his comment, opening her mouth to speak but then closing it moments after.

"Gomen. It was not my intention to do that," she apologized out of the blue after a few minutes of silence. Hao raised a brow and walked up to her until he was directly in front of her; he placed to fingers under her chin and raised her head so that their eyes could meet.

"Something is wrong with you," he told her, staring into the deepest part of her red eyes.

She smacked his hand away, "What makes you think that?" she asked coldly.

Hao winced at the coldness in her tone, dropping his hand to his side, "It's the first time you apologize with ease," he stated, turning around to walk through the rain, Annaka taking small steps behind him, "and also…" –he turned to face her- "I can read your mind."

Annaka turned behind to face her husband fearfully, and she felt a sudden chill go down her spine at the dirty look on his face. He took a shuddering step towards her, his hands in his pockets. "Are you going to tell me or not?" he hissed.

There was a silence that followed that, and Hao shut his eyes in defeat, until he felt Annaka's fingers entwine themselves in his. His eyes widened as he looked down to face her, and it turned into a full-scale blush at the look on her face. There was a smile on it, and as he looked down, she walked beside him and dragged him to a bench with a roof over it.

They both sat down and laid their umbrellas down under their feet, then before Hao had time to ask again, Annaka began to speak.

"Something is going on with the baby," she said to him quietly, her gaze turning away from Hao's.

"What's wrong with it?" Hao asked.

"First off," Annaka retorted, giving Hao a glare for using the word _it,_ "'it' is a 'she'."

Hao's eyes widened, "A girl?" he blinked, "It's a girl?" –Annaka gave a curt nod- "Well that's a first…" he said, resting his chin on the palm of his hand, his voice trailed off in realization to something. He looked up at Annaka, his eyes wider than before, "How do you know that? You're only three weeks pregnant."

Her face was tensed up as she looked out at the rain as it came down harder than before, her lips became a thin line. A rumble sounded in the skies; a signification of bad weather, Annaka let out a sigh, "Ever since my pseudo-death experience back at Mu, I've been feeling…anemic."

"That's normal for someone who's pregnant."

The blonde shook her head, "Iie, not for Shaman Queens. Our preemies, or infants, don't reduce our strength. They live off of our furyoku, taking it in little by little, but since our furyoku is never ending it doesn't affect us."

Hao's face didn't show that he was engrossed in this bit of information, but he was really wondering where his wife was going with such trivial things.

"Faust and Nianna didn't tell you of the electrical shock they felt when they were giving me their minutes left of life, there's a reason… they don't understand what happened."

"And you do?" Hao asked, his tone making the question sound more of a statement than an interrogation that he wanted to ask of.

"Partly," she said, her eyes now wandering to her feet, "that shock…was caused by your brother's son."

Hao raised a brow, "Hana?" he queried, his expression clearly showing his interest in the conversation.

Annaka gave a blank nod, "At first I didn't understand why," she said in a bored tone, cupping her cheek with her hand and resting her arm on her knee, "but then while looking into Nianna-san's head I realized something. A child born from the Shaman King and Queen, but born before his father was announced King… it's possible that Hana may have Yoh and Anna's abilities combining them into some sort of multi-kinetic ability, an ability that Yoh-san will soon have after he fully merges with the Great Spirit."

**[A/N: 'multi-kinetic ability' meaning** **Hana can use all five elements in ANY way he wants, something Yoh will have after he fully merges with the G.S]**

Hao leaned back against the bench, crossing his arms leisurely behind his head as Annaka continued.

"When Ryu dropped Hana on me, that's when I felt a jolt in me, and I felt two lives being poured into me, their last minutes left of life, afterwards I thought nothing of it, but I should know better." –Hao raised a brow as he saw Annaka's hands tighten into two tight fists- "The slap was involuntary, so was the pain I felt later that caused me to cough up blood. But…when Love-Senpai was checking on me in the infirmary, her exams showed me an answer to my actions…"

She paused as she let all the information she gave out sink in to Hao. When she saw his expression go blank, she decided to tell him the rest.

"The infant is no longer feeding off of my furyoku; she's feeding off of the amount of time Faust and Nianna handed to me through the **'jikan wo watasu' **and because of it…she's matured in my womb faster than she should."

Hao was silent as he was waiting for the climax of his wife's explanation…he was about to get it…

Her red eyes fell on his as they grew serious for the next few words that came from her mouth.

"Hao, she's growing three months in my womb with each passing week. Meaning…she'll be born tomorrow."

Hao felt his eyes grow and his mouth open as those words were sinking in, _'She'll be born tomorrow...' _"Oh. My. Holy. Shit." He muttered.

Annaka brought out an apple from her school bag and took a bite of it, giving Hao a curt nod, "hmm, I expected a worse reaction…but then again, I can never predict anything when it comes to you," she said, taking another bite of the juicy red fruit.

Hao smiled and took Annaka's hand, the one that held the apple, and brought the fruit to his mouth, taking a small bite of it before turning to look his wife in the eyes.

Rain was starting to fall, a thin clap of thunder slashing through the sky like a knife.

Hao looked out into the rain and smirked, closing his eyes as he held Annaka's hand in his. "Something else is bothering you as well," He muttered.

Annaka raised her eyebrows, then turned her gaze to where Hao's hand gently held her's. "Do you fear death?" she asked.

Hao looked at her with raised eyebrows, the rain now pouring heavily down the roof top that covered the bench outside. "What kind of question is that?" Hao asked witheringly.

"An important one," she said dully, "so answer it."

Hao returned to his leisurely position by leaning back on the bench once more, "This has something to do with the dream I had under the tree, right?"

"You used to not be able to read my mind." She said sulkily.

"That was when you were just an empty box in a very attractive frame." He said coyly. She said nothing more, and he drew stray hairs away from her face soothingly. "But to answer your question…" he whispered to her as a distinct rumble filled the skies. "If you mean the death of myself, then I have no worries, I've stepping before death many times and passed it with no shivers at all, I've been through way too much for me scared of such trifle things," he added in a rather proud tone.

Annaka nodded, her gaze being held by the pouring rain.

"Do you fear. . ." she continued in a soft whisper, and he turned to her "the dead coming back to end your life, for you ruining theirs?"

Hao turned to her, but she was looking up at the ceiling with almost irrevocable disdain, and he felt like he was invading her privacy by looking at her. She did not speak for a long while. It was then when Hao placed his hand over hers, and her eyes widened, her head turning to face his, "You're referring to Soraguimi, am I right?"

Her eyes grew even more, "You finally remembered?" she asked, completely awed.

Hao laughed, "You underestimate me, Annaka. Yes I remember now, I remember all of them, and everything that happened in my previous life."

"And all because of a dream," Annaka added, rolling her eyes, passing the apple from Hao's hand to her other hand, then bringing it to her mouth.

"I'll have to thank Wilhelmina for that."

Annaka dropped her apple and stared at her husband with uttermost disbelief.

Hao smiled at her, "I told you," he said into her ear, "I remember _everything._"

"Then you should know the danger of having those three- I mean four with us. They somehow managed to reincarnate into the same time as you, most likely to get revenge. It doesn't help much that the three of them still have their shamanic abilities." The blonde informed him.

"Ah, yes," Hao mused, staring up at the ceiling, "I was very fond of their abilities; Wilhelmina's ability to create illusions in one's head, Emmetto's ability to block others' senses, and my beloved 'sister-like' follower Arisu, who can see into the future. All _very_ useful shamans who had helped me in my previous life, to think that now they wish to end my life," he added in a very amused tone.

"You forget some other followers that you were very fond of," Annaka endowed.

Hao blinked as he searched his wife's head for the missing images in his, "Ah, how could I forget. There was also Lysander, Nagehiko, and…" Hao trailed off as he remembered the one of his closest followers, the image of the brown haired girl filled his head, and burned a hole into his chest.

Annaka's red eyes softly stared at Hao; he looked back at her giving her an uneasy smile. "You're still mad at those who killed her, huh?" she asked him, not a hint of jealousy anywhere.

Hao sighed, "She and Arisu were like younger sisters, what do you expect?" –His eyes grew hard- "Those bastards deserved being cremated in my flames," he added in a fiery rage.

Annaka placed a hand on her husband's shoulder, "Well you cremated them alright," she retorted, "You got your revenge. But now Wilhelmina, Emmetto, and Arisu want theirs, what gets me is how they were able to reincarnate, they look exactly the same as they did when I last saw them. Also…what do they want revenge for?"

Hao wasn't listening to his wife's humdrum, he was off in his own thoughts, remembering something that had recently happened, something that had to do with Opacho and the way Soraguimi smelled…

0000000000000000

"_You all hold a grudge against me." Hao said. It wasn't an opinion, it was a fact._

"_That's an understatement." Emmetto remarked his golden eyes glaring through Hao._

"_Hao-sama, make them go away." Opacho wined. "Opacho does not like the way they smell."_

_Ren, Horohoro, Ryu, Hao, Luchist, Manta, Faust, Chocolove, Lyserg and Marco all looked at Opacho._

_She had her hand on her nose as if to keep away their smell._

"_The way we smell?" Arisu asked her eyes full of interest._

_Wilhelmina walked over to Opacho, Emmetto grabbed her arm._

"_Let go Em. I want to try something." She said her eyes on the small African child._

_Emmetto let go, and Wilhelmina stopped as she was only a few inches apart from Opacho._

_Opacho looked at her Hao-sama as if she were looking for approval. Hao looked at her and smiled._

_Luchist got his gun out aiming at Wilhelmina, Ren got out his Basontou spear, Lyserg got Morphine ready as so did the others with their spirits._

_Wilhelmina looked over at Arisu, Arisu mouthed two small words.__ Mind reader._

_The red haired stuck her hand out at the small African girl. __'What do I smell like?'_

_Opacho looked at the hand. __'Hao-sama I can't read what else she is thinking' __she whined to her precious Hao-sama._

'_I know, neither can I.'__ He responded._

_Wilhelmina's flaming red eyes stared at the girl. She asked one more time __'what do I smell like?'_

_Opacho uncovered her nose and leaned in to smell the girl's hand pausing for quite a while to get a good sniff._

_Lyserg looked at Morphine, only to see that her pink eyes were glued to something or someone across the room. He followed her gaze to see that Arisu stood frozen as if she were in some kind of trance._

_Her eyes were wide and she did not blink, her coal eyes for the moment had no pupils as if here soul were far in time._

_Morphine turned, to face Lyserg; she flew in front of his face and desperately pointed to Arisu and Emmetto._

"_What is it Morphine?" He whispered as she began to tug at his shirt._

_Out of the corner of his eye Emmetto eyed the fairy spirit, with a pleased look on his face._

_Hao seemed quite impatient by now. __'Opacho.'__ He warned._

_Opacho took one last whiff. And looked at the red head, she looked at her with the up most curiosity._

'_D__on't say it out loud. Just say think of it, I know you can read my mind though I can't read yours. What do I smell like?'_

_Opacho closed her eyes and pictured what she smelled._

_There was a huge squawk of a bird and everyone's eyes widened as they saw a ghost like figure come their way pushing them back against the ground._

_Each one began to stand up but with a last glance in Wilhelmina's direction they saw the ghost like figure come at them, then it disappeared within each ones' head._

_00000000000000_

"_Why are you here alone?" a young boy with long chocolate-colored hair asked._

_A smile child with long pink hair past her waist looked at the boy. "I am not alone." The girl said "I am a demon girl, I live with my kind."_

"_You are no demon girl." The boy laughed._

_The girl growled at him "What do you know?" she snarled._

"_I was told by humans that I was a demon, but a demon himself told me I was not. I was something far off from both things."_

_The girl narrowed her eyes "And what would that be?"_

"_A shaman."_

_The girl laughed "I can assure you I am no shaman!" she stood, her tiny delicate legs lost their balance and she fell back. The boy caught her._

"_How about I prove you wrong? I'll give you a home and a human free world if you help me."_

"_I'm not what you think I am." The girl softly protested._

"_I've proven many wrong before, but even if you are not what I think you are…it doesn't matter."_

"_It doesn't __matter__?"_

"_No. because you were treated similar to me, thus I'll help you." –he smiled and the girl's heart rate increased-"Of course only if you'll let me help you."_

_The girl blushed and looked down at her hands, her soft pink hair covering most of her face._

"_Yes."_

_0000000000000000000000000000000_

"_Tell me Opacho, when you smell those three, what do you smell?" Hao asked one day when he and his most loyal follower were laying under a tree._

_The small African girl looked up at her master and scrunched up her tiny nose, "Ashes."_

_000000000000000000000000000000000000_

Hao opened his eyes, most of those flashbacks were the ones Wilhelmina purposely showed them back at America, but why would she _want_ him to remember them?

He shrugged it off and turned to his wife, who was staring at him with a look of horror. "Nani?" he asked, arching one of his perfect brows.

Another blade cut through the dark sky, making it bleed colors of yellow and white, but healing all too quickly.

"You never told me…that Opacho said that," she accused in horror, she instantly stood up, making Hao flinch at her sudden movement. "You don't remember everything, Hao," she said.

Hao stood up, at that moment Annaka placed a hand on both sides of his head, their bodies touching one another but their faces inches apart. Annaka looked at him straight in the eye, in his head she showed him an image, an image of his past.

"Do you remember this woman? This girl?" the blonde asked her husband.

In his head, Hao saw the image of _a woman in a pink and red kimono, her long waist-length hair, was the same color as her dark and vicious eyes…pink. She sat on a rock, glaring at every person that walked by her, until she spotted Hao walking over to her, then her eyes would turn warm._

Hao looked cluelessly at his wife, not knowing how to respond. Annaka's eyes narrowed, "You don't remember her?"

Hao placed his hands over her's and took them off of his face, "Rose? Why are you showing her to me?" he asked calmly.

"That's not her name Hao, you gave her the name Rose because of her hidden thorns, but you know her real name, she was your first follower."

"I don't." he stated, "My memories don't show me much of her. Why is she so important?"

Annaka took a step away from Hao, her face being covered by her hair, "Because 500 years ago, you killed her…because she tried to eat my soul."

Suddenly the weather around them grew vicious, the wind blowing hard, carrying many leaves a twigs in its direction, thunder clashed overhead, and then the sound of an engine was heard overhead, slowly coming down.

Both shamans looked up and saw a giant robot slowly, but powerfully, coming down to land, causing great winds and noise under it. The giant robot landed and its door opened with a hissing sound. "Oi! Hao, Annaka-san, long time no see!!!" a kidish voice called from inside, "You guys need a lift back to the inn?"

Hao laughed at the Redseb's sudden energy, while Annaka rolled her eyes, yet both of them agreed and bordered Golem, making their way back to the inn.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Some believe the sounds of birds chirping mean peacefulness, but it could possibly mean the birds are encouraging someone to hurry, to run away as fast as they can. That is the significance of these birds following the two young figures in the fields as they run._

"_Oni-chan, why do we run?" asked a small blonde haired girl, who was being pulled forwards by the older male figure in front of her. The girl found a reason in the male's head, but she wanted to hear it from her brother herself._

"_I can't explain. But either way, I'm sure you already know."_

_The small girl's eyes grew._

"_I know you're not the same as us, as humans, but yet I can't bring myself to believe father's crap about a demon queen. You're something else, something that somehow has knowledge of many things that go on in this earth, that's all I know."_

_The small girl lowered her head, her long blond hair covering her perfect young face features as he brother continued to pull her away from the hospital campus and away from Kyouto, pulling her closer to Osorezan. "Father could be right," she said softly._

_The male boy stopped dead in his tracks, snow falling and landing on his blond hair as his eyes stared at his younger sister, he pulled her in front of him, his back now facing the place they were running away from, his tone grew dark, "That man…is evil."_

_The small girl had known this for a while now, but yet she didn't want to believe it, her mother was married to that man, and anyone who was married to Kyoyama Akiko couldn't be evil._

_Or could they?_

_There was a loud gun shot at that instant._

_There was a grunt that was heard so close to the small girl's ear._

_There was a red liquid that escaped the mouth and injury of the man in front of her._

_There was red snow…_

_All the girl could see right now was red, and all she could hear was her older brother's last words, "Run, RUN NOW!"_

_And that was all the small child could do, to run away from the now dead corpse on the snow, to run away from the red snow, to runaway from whoever fired that gunshot at her brother..._

_From whoever fired that gunshot at Kyoyama Edward…and was now going after her…Kyoyama Anna._

_000000000000000000000000000000_

Anna jerked up at that instant, taking long harsh breaths that she needed from the shock her dream gave her. She looked out the window, the blurbs of white and blue calmed her, as so did the movement of Cadm's car.

"Anna? Are you okay?" Yoh asked beside her, looking at her in a worried manner. Anna turned her gaze away from the window and looked at Yoh instead, calming her even more.

"I'm fine, Yoh. Really. Just a bad dream, that's all," she replied dully.

Yoh opened his mouth to say something but Cadm's loud and excited voice interrupted him. "Yoh-sama, here we are! Kyouto! Look out the window to see all the snow that Kyouto has to offer!"

Ohachiyo rolled his eyes, "Only an idiot like you would be so interested in snow," he insulted his Patch partner, as the car was parked right beside the big school bus, "Looks like we're here," he announced.

Yoh got out of the car, helping Anna get out herself, both wearing their usual coats for this time in weather. They both watched as all the students loaded off the buses and grabbed their bags, entering an inn in front of the parking space; Yoh looked around trying to find the bus where Anna-chan had loaded. He spotted Edward coming off a bus to his left, holding a tiny hand in his, Anna-chan came off the bus with him.

It surprised Yoh greatly to see that the small girl had not yet recovered from her depressed stage, she had this dull, hardened look on her usually sweet and glowing face, her eyes seem all too blank, as if lost somewhere far away, and there were small almost unnoticeable circles under her eyes, but if you were to stand in front of her you could not notice due to her long hair covering certain parts of her face. She stared at the ground the whole time she walked with Edward, and it seemed to the young Shaman King that it basically looked as if Edward was dragging the small girl out of the bus, not out of Anna-chan's own free will.

"It is out of my own free will," he heard Anna say beside him, he looked down to see her also staring at Edward and her younger self, "He thinks he can protect me more if I am away from my father, if I am with him instead of being at home," she explained.

Yoh eyed her expression closely, it was blank, the same expression as her younger self, Anna walked past him and opened the trunk of Cadm's car, "We, too, have to go inside. Get the bags," she strictly ordered.

"H-hai!" he immediately replied, running over to the trunk and getting his and Anna's bags.

"Oi, Yoh-sama, those seem too heavy for you. Let me help," Cadm offered, reaching his arms out to grab the bags.

Yoh kindly refused, "Arigatou Cadm, but I pretty much consider this training for myself, hehe," he told the Patch member.

Anna watched as the two had a humorous conversation, but she bothered not to listen to it, Cadm couldn't see her, there was no need, she was only here to retrieve Yoh out of her childhood memories but failed in doing so. _'Pft, when did he become so hardheaded?' _she asked herself, referring to him saying no to her order. She looked around at all the cheerful students that surrounded her invisible body, looking at each happy face that went by…until she saw a different visage.

Coming down from the steps of the bus came a girl with a head of long flames of fire and big round eyes that seem like a garden of lavender, for once the girl had her hair all the way loose, showing that her hair came all the way down to the back of her knees, she was wearing the red school uniform that belonged to the school and as she came down the steps she seemed suspicious, as if she was observing something.

Anna watched as the girl's visage changed its mien, making it seem more joyful as she gradually skipped her way to the inn, but a sudden movement in the girl's pocket caused her to stop dead in her tracks. Anna raised a brow as the girl placed her hand in her pocket and pulled out a 2g, looking at it for a brief moment then placing it in her ear. She listened for a few seconds before putting the phone away and began looking at her surroundings.

The girl began to slowly walk away, making sure no one noticed her absence, then when reaching the nearest tree, she turned around and ran.

Anna took a step forward, about to go after her but Yoh called her as soon as she did, "Anna, you coming? He called out from the steps of the inn. Anna clenched her teeth, she turned to her husband giving him a vile look, Yoh winced at this face, "Anna, are you okay?" he asked taking a step towards her.

Anna turned in the opposite direction, "I'm going for a walk," she told him blankly, regaining her usual mien, "Be sure to have everything ready for when I return," as she spoke that last order she turned and began walking in the direction of Shimizu Shiori's previous path.

'_That girl…' _she began thinking _'I have a feeling that girl is here to cause my younger self trouble. But…what could it be? I have yet to remember what happened on this day, for some reason my memory does not wish to travel to this day. What could it be?' _

She stopped dead at her tracks when she saw the flame of fire that stood out from the pure snow, Shimizu Shiori's hair swayed back and forth as she pushed herself on a swing, everything moving up and down with the movement of the metal seat she sat on, her face no longer that of an innocent child, but it seemed one more of an adult. Footsteps were heard behind her and the girl stopped swinging.

"I'd like to know exactly who you are and what your business is with me," she said in a grave voice, one that caused you to question the intelligence and threats of a child. Her lavender-grey eyes blaring holes through the man that stood in the shadows.

A chuckle was heard through the shadows and a familiar voice to Anna was heard, "That attitude of yours…it doesn't seem to be one that belongs to an eight year old girl. Could it be that you too are the same as _that girl_?"

From the shadows arose the man no other than Kyoyama Damasu, an evil and amused grin plastered across his face. Shiori frowned as she saw this man; she turned her head away from him and went back to swinging back and forth on the swing. "You're the father of that girl I am required to retreat to my boss. I have heard much about you, Kyoyama…you're a confused and disturbed eye-sore," she insulted him.

"No. I believe you are the confused one," he said, taking steps closer to the girl, "If my studies are correct it's possible that you, too, are a demon."

Dust flew up into the air as the girl brought her feet out in front of her to bring the swinging to an immediate stop. Shimizu Shiori lowered her head, the flames of her head covering her eyes. Damasu's lips curled up into a smug smile, "I knew I was right," he told the girl, "What better way to get rid of a demon rather than a demon doing it?" -He chuckled- "Oyamada is truly a genius, but also a fool for thinking I would not find this out." –Shiori tightened her grip on the rope of the swing- "Your form of speech, your appearance, your knowledge…they all are not of this generation. Oyamada is an idiot, bringing out one of his 'experiments' to end with that girl's life."

Anna frowned as she heard all this, surly this explanation was not enough for her, she needed to know more. As if her prayers were answered, Shiori threw herself off the swing, pushing herself into the air with her legs and landing in front of Damasu, sending a leg up to his neck.

"To call Oyamada Mansumi an idiot…" she muttered under her hair, "I believe the idiot is you, Kyoyama." –Damasu winced at the girl's dark tone- "Oyamada gave me a place after years of searching for one, and because of it I must bring your daughter to him. If you interfere then I can assure you…I'll have your soul."

The fiery haired girl lowered her leg, away from Damasu's neck, she turned her back to him, "Though…this is not what you wanted to discuss with me, is it Kyoyama?" she said dully, "What do you want from me?"

This was enough for Anna. She turned her back on the two and began walking back to where she came from, but she did not walk fast enough to not hear Damasu as he said, "I want you to take that girl's life."

-----

"I'm back," Anna dully replied as she entered the room assigned to her and Yoh in the Kyouto inn. Yoh was at a corner, tying on his orange koshi-obi over the waist of his periwinkle haori.

"Welcome back," he said with that usual boyish grin, "Did you have a good walk?"

"Hai," she softly replied going over to the bed in the corner of the room where her bag laid, she placed her hand on the zipper and opened it, pulling out her wind-mill printed kimono. "I see you found the kimono I made for you to wear when viewing the Shaman Tournament," she told him as she began to change into her tradition clothes.

"Hai," he replied happily, "All the other students were saying how you have to dress traditionally for the Christmas festival here, and in found this one in my bag. I'm glad I did too. After all…" –Anna stopped tying her koshi-obi around her waist, waiting for Yoh to finish his sentence. Yoh blushed- "after all, you did make this yourself for me. That may be why I like it so much!"

Anna turned her face away from him, her cheeks a faint pink blush on them, "baka," she whispered softly. She pulled her red koshi-obi back around her waist and quickly tied it, looking at the ground instead of Yoh who gazed at her dearly.

They both finished putting on their traditional Japanese attire, the same they used to watch the Shaman Fights, then without a word to each other they headed outside.

---

Edward took a deep long sigh; he turned to his younger sister who looked at the ground in a blank mien on her young pale visage. "Lighten up, Anna, you look dead," he told her, not bothering to look at her torn up face.

Anna raised her hazel-brown upwards, her head following the same motion, then her eyes practically burned holes into a small redhead's fragile body. "I don't like her," she snarled in a low voice, Edward looked down at her as she said this, "she can go and die."

She turned around and began walking away at a great speed, Edward watched her go across the street and down it, and as he watched her back Misaka appeared beside him her long blue hair swaying back and forth as she walked to him and stopped by his side. "I'm guessing she did not enjoy being paired up with that Shiori girl, I'm guessing that she doesn't enjoy having a little competition for being the next young prodigy, huh?" she joked.

The male Kyoyama didn't seem to find it funny, instead he rolled his eyes and walked off slowly, away from the blue haired girl that eyed him out of curiosity; she stared at him then slowly walked behind him.

In a corner of the cluster stood the young Shaman King and Queen eyeing the whole thing, Yoh watching all the cheerful teenagers talking among each other; Anna watching her former brother and his number one fan go after her younger self. The blonde took her husband by the arm, "We're going," she ordered, pulling him forward towards her as she walked.

Yoh blinked at her sudden jerk but followed her either way, "Anna, where we-" he stopped mid-sentence as he saw Shiori stand up from a nearby bench and began to slowly walk backwards away from the crowd. _'If I do this than I can finally rest in peace.' _He heard her say in her own head, Yoh's eyes widened as the previous scene entered his head through the thoughts of the small red head. He looked towards Anna with a worried look, though her face was so blank he thought that she must have not known anything of it. But we know otherwise.

The Shaman King let out a sigh, he continued to let his wife pull him by the arm, suddenly Anna stopped. Yoh looked past to find the reason of her sudden stop and he saw that the rest of the street in front of them was filled with clusters of people and stands of foods, with tons of people in traditional Japanese clothing. The laughter of cheerful people could be heard throughout the whole Christmas Festival in Kyouto.

"Ah! A Christmas festival!" Yoh awed, looking at all the passing people by the two of them, "I guess this is why the school decided to bring its students here." He gave Anna one of his usual boyish grins, but the Shaman Queen was to busy looking around to pay attention to her childish husband.

"We lost them," she sighed in disappointment, "I would say it's impossible to find them but I know better." She closed her eyes, getting ready to use her furyoku to find her younger self, until she felt Yoh's warm hand place itself on her small shoulder. She opened her eyes and met with her husband's deep eyes.

"How about we just look around the place?" he asked, his face filled with childish hope, "I really want to go somewhere. Can we?" he added with a smile.

The blond gave him a stern face, though it was more of one for thought, one that you really don't see very often. Yoh didn't let her reply for he just took her by the hand and began to walk fast, pulling her along with him. She blinked as he began to pull her through the crowds of people, wondering when Yoh had gained the courage to hold her hand without her permission, to do it in public out of all the things.

She narrowed her eyes at these questions, "Yoh, where are we going?" she demanded to know in a stern voice, her eyes glaring at the back of his yukata.

He just laughed, "You'll see when we're there," he promised her, "it's somewhere that I went with my family when I was younger, I'm pretty sure I told you about it, it was the first time I was with both my parents as a family."

It was now that the blond had a guess as to where he was taking her, she stayed silent for a while until Yoh began to speak once more. "You know now that I look at this place…" he began, "it looks almost exactly as I remember it, there's that huge sakura tree right in front of the Shinnyo-do Temple, and there's also that guy that gave me two bags of oranges when I came, he used to be right in front of the-" he came to a brief and sudden stop before finishing his sentence, too sudden that Anna almost ran into him, but placed her hand in front of her before she had a chance to bump into him.

"Yoh?" she asked raising, trying to look over his shoulder but could only see the head and neck of a giant swan, she slowly blinked and then, letting go of Yoh's hand she stepped to her left, feeling something run right into her lower body.

"Itai!~" the thing said in a childish voice, after feeling the impact. Anna looked down and her eyes grew, she could not see the face of the small boy that ran into her, but the child had one thing that was truly familiar to her…orange headphones.

The small boy looked up at Anna, a soft pink color slowly coming about his cheeks as he saw the beautiful onee-chan that he ran into, Anna stared at him for what seemed like hours, eyeing the boy in shock. Brown hair, chocolate eyes, that boyish smile, and those orange headphones…

"Gomen Onee-chan, I wasn't watching where I was going," the small boy apologized quickly after hearing his parents call after him, he ran past Anna and Yoh and then quickly met up with his parents.

Anna stared after him and then turned to look at Yoh, his usually warm eyes were unseen, hidden under the shadows of his hair. She looked and saw that his hands were into fists, not tight ones, but they were softly and barely balled up. "Anna…" he softly called, "why…why is _my _younger self here too?"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**I KNOW, I KNOW. I DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED FOR TAKING SO LONG. BUT I'VE HAD THE BIGGEST PROJECTS OF MY LIFE! [FRESHMEN PROJECTS SUCK.] BUT SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE THOUGH! MORE TIME TO WRITE! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**OK I KNOW U GUYS WON'T FORGIVE ME. BUT HOPEFULLY I WONT LOOSE ALL MY FANS. **

**ONE MORE THING U GUYS ****PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WEATHER U GUYS LIKE MY STORY OR EACH CHAPTER. SO ONEGAI!!!!!!!!!**

**NO TIME FOR REVIEW REPLIES, THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM AND I WANT TO GET STARTED ON THE OTHER CHAPTER. SO U KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!**

YohAnna4eva/Crystel Hidalgo


	14. The Story Begins, Again

**Shaman King 300: The Disaster of 500 years;**

**Chapter 14: The Story Begins…Again**

_**OZOREZAN, JAPAN, 1992**_

Anna looked at Yoh; Yoh looked at Anna, both of them then turned to watch the leaving figure of a miniature Yoh and his parents. Anna slowly fell on her knees, her body positioning itself right in front of a big sakura tree. She cradled her head in her hands and softly whispered, "What in the Great Spirit's name is going on?"

Yoh face was one of surprise, "You don't know?" he dumbly asked her. In her confusion, Anna tried to lunge her hand at him but Yoh just held her hand at her side, wrapping his arms around her arms and waist, leaning in close to the side of her face.

"Nani?" He said with a lazy and confused mien, Anna glared at him as if she could burn holes right through him with her stare.

"Do you not listen to me?" She spat angrily. "I've told you before I don't remember anything, Yoh, I don't remember anything of this day!" she looked at his arms which were wrapped around her tiny waist, "Let go of me, Yoh," she ordered

"You would definitely kill me if I do let you go." Yoh reasoned out. He was just joking at that time, because the true reason he held her captive is because he likes the feeling of holding her close.

"You will die if you don't," she threatened him, her amber brown eyes trying to burn holes through him, she looked for a way to get him to let go because she was rapidly hating being so irritated and clueless. She began squirming her legs from under him, if she could just kick her leg once in that place…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Yoh warned lightly, without warning he leaned his head in and kissed her on her lips, Anna's eyes widen at what he did and even it rendered her speechless, a blush staining her cheeks. When he pulled his face away Anna saw he was smiling widely seeing as he had finally gotten the upper hand over her, "Gomen," he apologized, that grin never leaving his face, "but that's the only way I could think of to calm you."

"You idiot," she muttered under her breathe, "You can let go of me now, you baka," she added calmly. Yoh did as he was told and soon regretted it, for before he knew it Anna's hand attacked his left cheek. _**SMACK!**___"That's for doing such things without my approval, you should know better!" she protested.

Yoh cupped his cheek with his hand, feeling a harsh sting as his hand touched the skin of his cheek, he let out a sigh, "Gomen, Anna," he replied sadly.

Anna sighed as well and scooted herself closer to him, then to Yoh's surprise she placed her head on Yoh's chest, "Anna…" he softly whispered, wrapping his arms around her as he said her name.

"Shut up," she softly ordered into his chest, "I'm trying to think."

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her young musical voice nearby, Anna lifted her head off of Yoh's chest and both of them stared in the direction of the voice. Anna-chan was walking up to a sakura tree across from them, resting her back on it, and taking a deep sigh. "Curse that dang teacher for pairing me up with Shiori-san, that girl…she's scary. And she wants something from me, but…I haven't been much able to read her mind." She squirmed around and wrapped her arms around her small knees, placing her head on her knees to rest.

She was thinking of a lot. Too much for a girl her age. Would any girl think of how get rid or control her mysterious power of mind reading and the other strange quirks she beheld? I highly doubt it. But any normal girl would cry at her problems, and that was exactly what the small seven year old Kyoyama Anna wished to do. The tears would've begun to slowly from her childish eyes if she didn't hear footsteps approach her and stop right in front of her. Anna-chan slowly raised her head pushing back some of her long golden hair from her face. In front of her she saw something round and bright orange, it took the small girl a while to notice that a small boy with orange headphones was holding an orange in his hands, handing one to her.

If you would've seen the expressions on the Shaman King and Queen's face you would have died right on the spot, but they were too busy seeing the scene before them to even look at each other.

The young Asakura Yoh held out the orange to Anna-chan and gave her a boyish grin, "Oranges always make me happy," he said cheerfully. Anna-chan stared at the orange for a long while and the small Yoh's face fell, "Do you not like oranges?" he asked.

She blinked and instantly took it from the small boy's hand, "I love oranges, to be honest," she softly whispered so only he could hear her.

The boy's smile grew, "Me too!" he happily exclaimed, then he realized something, "Ano…my name is Asakura Yoh! Age seven."

The small blonde looked at him and a smile was tugging at her tiny lips, "Kyoyama Anna, age seven, hajimashite."

****

_**APRIL 2000, FUNBARI HILL**_

**Nianna's POV**

When its dark outside and you stare at the dark skies at this night you see that every once in a while a bright blade would make a cut through the sky's black skin, but yet the black skin would somehow manage to heal itself a stay that way until another blade would come back to injure it.

In many ways this was much like life, every once in a while something comes and harms your happiness but somehow you endure it, until the next event comes and does the same to you once more. The blade that was cutting to me was cruel, cruel and excruciatingly unfair, it was none other than the Shaman Prince himself, Asakura Hana.

Many must think me very quire to at one moment appear and proclaim of my love to Asakura Hao, then the next minute I am in love with this child, this lovely infant of an angel in my arms. The worst was that I do not have motherly feelings but more of feelings of actual love, oh how I wish to dearly curse my defects.

I look down at this child in my arms and I think. I think of how I am not supposed to be holding this child so lovingly in my arms, and how I am not supposed to exist at all, how I was a mistake. While I ponder this the door to my room slides open and I have no need to turn around to see who it is.

"Where have you been, Nagehiko?" I asked, hearing a tone of annoyment in my own voice, "You've been gone for hours," I ramble on, "how dare you leave without my-" I turn to look at him and immediately shut my mouth.

Nagehiko did not have his face covered or under the shadows, I saw his visage extremely well, it was the face that I recreated due to my loneliness.

"Why are you without cover for your face?" I asked, it seemed to me that all I was doing today was asking questions, but I didn't care the least of a bit.

He looked at me with those extremely dark brown eyes of his and walked over to a nearby drawer pulling it out and tying his pitch black hair in a high pony-tail, "I was out," was all he said.

How stubborn.

"Do I not have a right to know why?" I pushed farther, feeling my temper slowly rising to meet its limit.

This boy has always been this way, since I revived him, I have known him to be this way, a stubborn aloof fool. Why do I put up with him? Because if I left him he would be like I was, alone and depressed. Why not destroy him? Because I would feel like Goldva if I were to do that.

But what many people would ask me around this time if I were saying these things aloud would be, 'What do you mean by reviving him?'

A lonely person would usually play with dolls or have a little toy to play with or something to keep them company so that they may not feel so alone in this enormous world. I on the other hand would play with dirt. I remember looking through paintings of the old Ten Patch Priests, and I remember seeing Nagehiko's face among them.

Yes…Nagehiko was a Patch Priest 500 years ago, he used to be an enemy of Asakura Hao, he wished to kill him even if it cost him his own life, but once, when he went out to end Asakura's life, he was easily defeated by one of Hao's closest allies, Asakura Annai. But during the Shaman Fight, Annai was killed as revenge for her team killing many shamans that had gone against Hao. Nagehiko went mad with rage, killing all who fitted Hao's view of a "weak shaman" just as Annai had before her death. Nagehiko's death was a sad one, but also one too confusing to understand or remember.

But what I shall always remember is Nagehiko's face in that painting of The Patch 500 years ago. A burdening face of depression, the face of a bird that cannot fly, the face of a wolf that cannot hunt, the face that's meaning is the definition of sadness itself.

That face was the reason I chose him to accompany me, me and my pitiful self in my solitude.

His big brown eyes looked at me, a strange look of worry found in his eyes, "You have just as much right to know as immigrants have a right to live in America," he spoke up.

"They have plenty of right," I remarked at him, my tone very grave, if Hana was not in my hands at the moment then he would've have a handprint stinging him on his left cheek.

He should be grateful of the Shaman Prince.

"Not the illegal ones."

That did it.

You couldn't imagine the idiot's face as I placed Hana down on the futon and slapped him hard, causing him to fall back against the wall. The band he tied around his hair ripped, his black hair coming onto his face, hiding his expression from my view.

"You have a lot of nerve talking to me this way, Nagehiko," I began, feeling rage come to me so fast that the speed of light would be considered a turtle instead of the fastest thing known to man, "I am the one that revived you, you idiot! Your purpose is to make the rest of my life enjoyable, to be my friend, not my lover, or an aloof stuck up boy! I ask you, what is your problem!" my voice had finally reached the highest it could go, allowing all the rage to flow out of me with just those few but hurting words, it left just as fast as it came.

He stood up, slowly, his hand still cupping his possibly stinging cheek; those dark strands of hair still covered his eyes from any possible emotion visible to me. At least, that was until he raised his head and looked dead at me with those pitiful but powerful eyes. "Annaka saw me," he finally told me, his eyes turning themselves away from me, "she saw me face and acknowledged me."

This was a problem. For Annaka-san to know and remember Nagehiko…meant she remembers everything from her previous life…meaning…Soraguimi was going to act fast with their plans.

Whatever their plans were…

To be honest and make things clear, Soraguimi are not truly my allies or friends of mine, I found them in America at a cemetery.

_I was out for a walk with Nagehiko, who had never shown his face to anyone but me, keeping his visage a secret to the outside world. We were going to the cemetery to offer my respects to the spirits, and ask all of them forgiveness for me being alive and still replacing Anna-dono's position as Shaman Queen. You see around that time, I was supposed to be dead, but I had escape, making it seem to both Goldva and Nichrome that I was dead._

_When we reached the cemetery it was really quiet, and it was nighttime, the time of the 24 hours where spirits would all appear from their grave stones. I remember feeling no auras of any human spirit, the place was practically empty and without any souls._

_Behind me, Nagehiko kept quiet, the only sound among the place was his breathing. "Nianna…" he started, a threatening warning bubbling in his voice_.

_Ignoring his tone I went through the gates. He should've known better than to warn me of something, I never listen to anyone, I am known to know what to do when I have to, I was after all a copy of the great Shaman Queen._

_It was when I got to the biggest gravestone in the whole cemetery, that I saw them for the first time._

_The three of them were each one top of a gravestone, a small pixie-like girl on the biggest of all. She was gazing at the stars, but her eyes seemed somewhere else, somewhere far, far in time…_

_I felt Nagehiko stiffen behind me when he finally caught up to me, and his breathing completely stopped._

_The pixie girl's eyes came back to this time and her mouth curves upwards showing some bright and perfect white teeth, then her head turned in my direction, and I caught a good glimpse of her deep amber eyes. "Konnichiwa," she said in a soft childish voice, much to my surprise, for the girl's figure looked of my age, not the age of her voice._

_A boy with unruly sandy blonde hair looked at me, his amber eyes glaring holes right through me, showing me some strange emotion unknown to me, and a growl softly escaped his lips, causing Nagehiko to snarl back. A woman with long wine colored glared at the boy and swiftly kicked the gravestone on which the boy sat, causing it to shatter into pieces, each one falling to the ground, the boy falling down with them._

_The boy's expression was one full of shame, but I could see in his eyes a hint of angry rebellion._

_"Sorry," he muttered to the wine haired girl, he was beyond irritated._

_The pixie girl leaped off her stone and walked over to me, ignoring the other two among her, "Konnichiwa," she said once more, "Alice desu, hajimashite Nianna-san, Nagehiko-kun."_

That's how I met Soraguimi, I remember it well, very well, I remember raising my brows at her and asking her how she knew Nagehiko's and my name.

She said, _'It's hard not to know the name of people who are also as lonely as us.'_

Those words got to me, and as a result they came along with me and Nagehiko, and they told me of the reason they were at the cemetery.

_'We were looking for someone who was very close to us," Arisu told us, "she was killed long ago, so we're-"_

_"Arisu…" Emmetto growled in a grave and dangerous tone of warning._

_"Shut up, Em," Wilhelmina ordered the boy, the blonde glared at her, but she ignored him._

_Arisu sighed, "You'll have to excuse those two, our deceased friend was Wilhelmina's best friend and Emmetto's love," she informed me and Nagehiko, a hint of mockery in her voice._

_"How'd she die?" I dully asked._

_All three of them stopped walking, I saw Emmetto clench his hands into super tight fists, Wilhelmina lowered her head, tons of red curls covering her face. Arisu was the only one to answer me. "She was murdered…" she softly said, something hidden in her voice, "we had to suffer because of her death," her lips curled downward, "we're planning on finding a way to bring her back."_

Whatever their planning can't be good…

Nagehiko threw himself down on the ground, placing his head on his knees, and putting both hands on his head. "Annai…" I heard him whisper to himself.

I turned my head to look out the window, seeing my own reflection in the glass. I had a few curses in my life, I knew that. One was my curse of being a defected copy of the Shaman Queen, Anna. Two, was my curse of falling in love with the almost 3 week old Shaman Prince due to my defection. And three, was my curse of looking like Anna, Annaka, and…Asakura Annai.

_**NORMAL P.O.V**_

The heavy rain beat against the roof of the house in the form of large pebbles and rolled onto the ground below. Unusual darkness filled the sky, causing the looming trees in the distance to appear as shadows. Fierce lightning briefly broke through the night as if daybreak had arrived, and thunder clapped violently and loudly through the air.

Despite the wind knocking small branches of adjacent trees against the earth, Manta ran as fast as he could, trying to dodge the rain drops and clashes of lightning that filled the night. He let out a huge sigh of relief when he got to the door of the inn, he turned around and waved good-bye to Tamurazaki, who waved back from the black car and drove off.

Manta turned to the door and let out another sigh. _'Everyone must be asleep,'_he thought to himself, after all it was almost night time and the rain causes people to go to sleep much earlier than normal. He softly knocked on the door and turned the knob, entering the future Funbari Inn.

The house was silent, scarcely silent, making Manta shiver as he walked down the halls to reach the living room.

He entered the living room and saw the huge enlarged photo of all his friends on the wall; he would've laughed at the craziness of the picture if only he didn't see someone else staring at it as well.

Tamao sat on the edge of the couch in her yukata, eyeing the picture very fondly. Manta noticed that her eyes were very glass-like and every few seconds, he was about to go and walk over to her until her noticed that she suddenly clenched both her fists and her teeth, turning her mien into an unusual one.

A loud clash of thunder was heard outside and during those few milliseconds of noise and great blinding light Manta saw a different Tamao.

It happened quick but in those few milliseconds Tamao's hair had grown past her waist, her skin was a bit paler, and her eyes stayed pink but they seemed vicious and violent. When the clash and light of thunder vanished, the view of the violent Tamao vanished just as quickly as the strike came and went.

Manta blinked, and an intensely cold chill went down his spine, his eyes were wide but he rapidly rubbed them with his hands to make sure what he saw was true. When he looked up once more he saw Tamao looking at him, rubbing her tears away with the sleeve of her yukata. "Ah, Manta-kun," she said softly, "I didn't know you were going to spend the night here, I would've prepared your room if I knew," she apologized.

She stood up and straightened up her yukata, "Would you like something to each?" she kindly asked, "I'm pretty sure the rain makes many people hungry," she added. Manta gave a slow nod and watched Tamao disappear into the kitchen.

Manta went and sat down on the living room couch, placing his suitcase on the table, he stared at the photo, viewing the happy faces of all of his friends. But his eyes kept on wandering to Yoh and Anna's face, oh how long would it be until those two would come back and everything would be back to normal? Manta didn't know.

"I know what you're thinking," a voice stated from behind him.

The small Oyamada boy turned his head and saw Nianna in her yukata, leaning against the couch, her eyes not looking at Manta, but instead looking at the enlarged image on the wall. "'How long will take until those two come back?'" she said, quoting Manta's thoughts.

Manta's eyes widened, wasn't it that this copy of Anna could read minds? Then how…?

Nianna closed her eyes and softly chuckled, "I can't read minds, but the look on your face tells me what goes on in your head. Over my three years of solitude I have found that people form their expressions through their thoughts, so I use this knowledge to make up for my missing Reishi."

Manta eyed the girl carefully, noticing for once that the way she spoke was proper, and that she, like Anna, always had a stern face, not letting many see her emotions. "You speak too proper to be only 3 years old," he accidentally stated aloud, his thoughts leaving his head through his mouth.

The black haired Anna looked down at Manta, causing him to get a sudden cold chill down his body, Nianna's lips curled upwards. "I guess you could say it's another one of my glitches," she joked, "I also don't look three years old, do I?" –Manta shook his head- "Well I'm guessing that it's due to me supposed to being an exact copy of Anna, so in order for me to be that way I have to grow both physically and mentally."

"Oh!" Manta exclaimed, "I get it know!"

Nianna nodded, "But anyways, let's get back to you. Do you have any clue how long the average time the Shaman King rests inside the Great Spirit is?"

Before Manta could respond, Amidamaru appeared beside Nianna, his head lowered. "Nianna-san…is the average not 10 hours?" he asked worriedly, remembering the information Avaf gave out while they were all on their journey to defeat Hao in the Mu continent.

There was silence in the room for a few moments. Manta braced himself for whatever response would come from the girl. Nianna sighed sadly and replied curtly, "Hai."

Lightning lit the sky as the thunder bellowed violently through the night air. The wind picked up its pace and blew the leaves and small sticks over the grass. Although the stage had been set for a storm, there was no moisture from the sky, only the harsh sound of thunder, from behind Manta heard the shattering of glass. He turned around and saw Tamao, pink eyes wide, mouth opened in an "o" shape, and the pieces of broken glass right at her feet. "N-nani?" she softly whispered, her body shaking at an abnormal speed, "What. Did. You. Say?" she asked taking harsh steps towards Nianna.

Manta looked from Nianna to Tamao and back, Tamao's eyes were as he saw them moments ago, bright, vicious, malevolent, and deadly. Nianna, on the other hand, was as calm as Anna would be in any kind of situation; her face was stern as she saw Tamao approach her. She just shrugged, "The average time for the Shaman King to be inside the Great Spirit is 10 hours," she repeated once more.

Tamao began shaking once more, and Manta kept on seeing the same image as the lightning in the sky increased. "You're saying that something could be wrong with my Yoh-sama?" she asked, her tone grave and unusual.

Nianna raised a perfect brow up at the girl, the violence of the thunderstorm had not yet passed and the sound of the water rolling down the sides of the house was no longer soothing, she took a few steps over to where Tamao stood, then she lowered her head so that it could be leveled with Tamao's, "Last time I checked, Tamao Tamamura," she began, "Yoh-sama. Is. Not. Yours."

Even with the clash of thunder could compete with the gruesome sound of the slap Nianna received at that moment. Manta and Amidamaru stared in equal horror, and suddenly Ponchi and Konchi appeared at Tamao's side, equally shocked. "Tamao!" they both shouted in shock.

"SHUT UP!" the pink haired shaman shouted, in a tone never been heard through her lips. Her head swiftly turned to glare at the two cowardly spirits, who were now hiding behind Manta and Amidamaru. Tamao turned her glare back to the copy of Anna. "You…" she hissed, "you remind me of the three people I hate, and hated, since the day I've met them." She began to eye Nianna's face, "Those eyes, that mien…that face, all of it looks like those of those three."

Manta was too frightened at the moment to notice something strange in those words that Tamao spoke but Amidamaru noticed. The samurai noticed that Tamao had said Nianna looked like three people, Amidamaru could only think of two off the top of his head, Anna-dono, Annaka-dono…who was the third one?

The black haired Patch didn't say anything for the first few passing moments; she just stood there with her hair covering her eyes, until Tamao heard her chuckle. Nianna lifted her head, letting Tamao see that the slap on her left cheek left no mark what so ever, "Is that the best you can do, Tamamura?" she snapped, and before the pink haired shaman could respond, she felt a sharp pain in her gut, sending her back onto the couch.

"Ah! Nianna-san!" Manta called, trying to calm the dark haired Anna. But Nianna wouldn't listen instead she smirked at Tamao.

"Is that really all you got, Tamamura?" she asked again, "Why not show me your true form? Instead of this weak human façade you hide behind of?"

Tamao clenched her teeth together and slowly pushed herself up. "You…" she muttered to herself, slowly catching her breath after the blow. She took one step forward before she felt something tight wrap itself around her arms and upper body. The girl swung her head around to catch a glimpse of Hao leaning against the living room wall with his teasing smile, Annaka was right in front of him, holding Anna's 1080 beads in her hand. Tamao's eyes narrowed as she quickly closed up all emotions that seemed to be pouring out of her mind. "Why must _you_get in my way?" she snapped angrily at the blonde, "You're an eyesore to me, Annaka."

Annaka's eyes grew wide as those words echoed in her head, but then she instantly narrowed them at Tamao who only glared back. Hao took a long sigh and sat on the couch that was to Tamao's side.

Hao's eyes stared into her own blank pink eyes almost as if he could see straight through her. Tamao couldn't help but start feeling awkward under the stare. "You've been acting pretty strange, Tamao, care to tell us what is going on in your head?" he asked, his eyes having that fiery look in them that told you he was in your head.

"No need," Annaka replied, taking a few steps towards the girl, quickly waving her hand in front of her face, causing Tamao to rapidly fall to the ground. As Manta watched all this the blonde turned to him and Amidamaru, "What is all this commotion about, Oyamada?" she asked in a stern tone.

Manta froze for the first few seconds until Amidamaru tried to nudge him, "Ah! N-Nianna-san was telling us h-how the Shaman King is in the G-Great S-Spirit on a 10 hour average and then T-Tamao just suddenly started acting this way!" he said extremely fast, trying his best not to stutter on every word.

Hao looked at Annaka, Annaka looked at Hao, then both turned to Manta. "Oyamada," Hao began, "the Anna-copy is upstairs in her assigned bedroom," he informed him.

Manta's mouth dropped open, "Wah? How can you say that when she right-"

"-Manta-dono she's gone!"

Manta turned to look behind him, and Amidamaru was right, Nianna was gone, "Na…ni?" he asked.

Amidamaru turned to Annaka and Hao, "But Hao, Annaka-dono, she was really there! Manta-dono and I both saw her there talking to us!" he promised.

Hao closed his eyes and rested his head on his hand, "Ponchi, Konchi," he suddenly called out. The two disturbing spirits appeared beside Amidamaru, both shaking in fear of the Great Asakura Hao calling them.

"H-hai!" they both answered at the same time.

Hao opened his eyes, "Did you two…also see Anna's copy here?" he asked them.

"H-hai, sir!" they both said, both also saluting like two ridiculous looking soldiers, "She was here right when you two entered too!"

"I didn't see anyone when we came in, did you Seyram?" a voice asked from the kitchen doorway. Manta, Amidamaru, Ponchi, and Konchi, all turned and saw Redseb and Seyram both standing at the doorway to the kitchen of the inn. Redseb was leaning against the wall while Seyram just stood there looking shyly at the floor with her hand folded together in front of her. To answer her older brother she slowly shook her head, "Iie," she softly spoke, then she slowly raised her head to see Manta, "Konnichiwa," she said to him.

Amidamaru's eyes widened, "Redseb-dono, Seyram-dono! When did you two arrive?" he exclaimed.

Seyram looked to the ground once more as she spoke, "We brought Hao and Annaka here on Golem," she said slowly.

"That's right!" Redseb added, "We were coming back from checking on Anna and Yoh at Mu, but the Patch told us they still haven't woken up, so we couldn't see them…the bastards."

Manta lowered his head, his long sandy hair covering his eyes, "Is something wrong with Yoh-kun?" he softly asked, his question being referred to Annaka and Hao.

Annaka closed her eyes, 'It's complicated, Oyamada," she began, "There were way too many things out of order. Anna getting killed, Hao becoming dethrone, Yoh becoming king, Anna being revived, the resurrection of many souls such as I. it obviously would take time for the Great Spirit to become ready to give Asakura Yoh his title. But, there will be one huge difference when they will be crowned."

Manta raised his head, "What?"

Hao turned his head to view his brother's vertically challenged friend, his eyes completely serious while the rest of his face was relaxed, "Manta…becoming the Shaman King is the same thing as dying." Manta froze in place, Amidamaru lowered his head, Ponchi and Konchi froze and fell to the ground with their legs crossed. Seeing their reactions, Hao went on, "The Shaman Fight is the fight decided by this planet's God, and happens once every 500 years. Obviously there aren't any 500 year old humans around. In reality the average 10 hours it takes to merge with the Great Spirit is a 10 hour process of your soul becoming invincible. It makes since doesn't it? Unless you're an _Onmyoji_ or an itako you can't beat a spirit, but let me remind you that this is a spirit with the power to oversoul and use unstoppable power."

"As for Anna," Annaka added, hearing the thoughts of Ponchi and Konchi, "She too possesses this ability. As Shaman Queen, we already have the Great Spirit as our oversoul, but aren't allowed to use it due to us having to keep our identity a secret."

"Why would you have to keep that a secret?" Manta asked, his eyes wide open, "If such a Queen we to appear then would that narrow down the competitors? You could eliminate all the women, all the people not of the Queens age group, and other things as well. Why keep it a secret?"

"Because if anyone were to find out of the Queen's power, they would want it for themselves," answered a voice from afar. All heads turned to see Jane standing at the staircase in her white yukata, her silver hair wet and spread out. "The life of a Shaman Queen is a difficult one," she went on, ignoring the perverted looks she was receiving from the two repulsive spirits beside Tamao. "The Shaman Queen is determined by only one thing, hair color."

"Hair color, Jane-dono?"

Jane nodded her head, "The Shaman Queen is the only member of our tribe to have blonde hair, and this is due to blonde representing gold, one of the points in the five elements of nature."

"B-but Anna's real mother was blonde was she not?" Manta exclaimed, stressed by this new information that he had never heard of. "If she was blonde how come they didn't pick her?"

"It's complicated, Manta," the Patch women responded, she let out a small sigh and then pointed to her hair, "You see the color of my hair do you not?" –Manta and Amidamaru nodded- "This is not my natural hair color," she replied. "All Patch women have natural black hair, but…the ones who give birth to the Shaman Queen and Shaman Priestess, have a change in hair color during the months of pregnancy, this tell our tribe to be more careful with the child in the womb. Though some mothers, such as my sister, die in the process of giving birth to the Shaman Queen, so hair color, for the mothers, does not matter in the end."

"The natural blonde that is born every 500 years is chosen by the Great Spirit to be the Shaman Queen," Annaka informed once more, "Then the silver haired girl that is also born every 500 years is chosen by the Great Spirit to be the Shaman Priestess, her job is to protect the Shaman Queen from any harm."

"And to be a great nuisance," Hao smirked, earning a bump on the head from Annaka.

"I think we have said enough for one night," the blonde said in an irritated tone, a vain showing on one of her temples as she eyed her husband, "I think we should all follow Tamao's example of what we should do and go to bed."

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO MADE HER FALL UNCONSIOUS!" Manta accused her.

Annaka shrugged, "Either way, it's late, that meeting with the principal took to long to my liking. It's time for little children to be in bed." Her eyes turned to look at Redseb and Seyram at the kitchen doorway, Redseb crossed his arm behind his head and gave a childish frown.

"I don't wanna go to sleep yet though!" the small dark blonde boy groaned.

"You get to sleep in Anna's room," Hao said in a playful tone, a smirk creeping up his face as those words left his mouth.

Redseb's eyes suddenly lit up and a huge smile appeared on his face, "You know" he began, yawning and stretching in an exaggerated manner, "Suddenly I'm very tired," he lied, immediately getting up and running up the stairs, shouting, "Well I'll guess I'll go to bed then!" Seyram followed slowly behind, softly muttering, "Wait Redseb," as she walked after her brother.

"By the way, Manta," Hao said, stepping in to the conversation, "next tell that idiot of a principal to tell us of the graduation exam, instead of finding a way to get us in trouble so we could take it against our own free will."

Manta sweat dropped as he remembered that he was in charge of informing Hao and Annaka of the exam the principal requested of, "H-hai, I'll do that next time," he lied, hoping neither Hao nor Annaka will notice his little fib.

Jane pulled back the sleeve of her yukata, pulling off a hair bow from her wrist and using it to tie her long wet hair, "Well," she said as she pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, "Annaka-san is right, it is getting late." She walked over to Tamao's unconscious body and picked her up in her arms. Then she turned to Manta, "Come on, Manta-kun, I shall go prepare your room for you, instead of Tamao having to do it."

Both Hao and Annaka watched as Jane carried off Tamao, with Manta, Amidamaru, Ponchi, and Konchi following directly behind her. "Do you think we told Oyamada too much?" the blonde asked her husband, her face stern but her eyes filled with a strange and unusual mixture of worry.

Hao relaxed himself a bit more on the couch, crossing his arms behind his head, leaning back against the pillows of the couch, "On the contrary," he replied, "I don't think we told him enough. You heard it didn't you? His mind was full of questions; he wished to know about Tamao's sudden change and about the sudden disappearance of Anna's copy."

"I only have a guess about one of those though," Annaka admitted, her mind set in a place where Hao could enter or know of what she talked.

_"You're an eyesore to me."_

_Annaka shifted her head to give a quick glare to the person behind her. Beside her a strange looking boy with red hair and green eyes also looked back, innocently looking at the person who had just insulted his mistress. Annaka got up and looked dead into the person's eyes, her expression calm and relaxed, "And why would I be that to you if we just met?" she asked in an innocent tone of voice._

_The girl her age glared at her, but calmly relaxed the rest of mien, "If you are to come between Hao and I, I swear to you, you shall see your grave."_

_Annaka raised a brow, the small red haired boy beside her shifting uncomfortably, "I wasn't planning on even thinking of such things. Though your love for him could be questioned…"_

_"Stay. Away. From. Him!" the girl hissed through her perfectly white clenched teeth, "I suggest you leave before you regret ever living."_

Letting out a small breath, the blonde began walking, "It's late, and we should also get some rest."

"I'll catch up in a minute," Hao told her, his tone a little too calm to his wife's liking, when he saw her raise a brow at him he smiled. "Nani? I just want to talk to my brother for a bit," he said, pointing to the large photo on the wall.

Annaka looked at him blankly for a few seconds before turning her back to him, "Don't take too long," she ordered, then she walked up the stairs silently.

When he heard the door to their room slide shut, he stood and walked over to the giant photo that took up the whole wall, he looked at his brother's image in the photo and smirked, "You sure cause a lot of trouble for everyone, all your friends worry about you constantly, little brother, it's bothersome, but it's what you called friendship, am I right?"

The great head of the Asakura home then turned to the stairs, his back turned to the living room window, "Without Emmetto being near you to numb your thoughts I can hear you pretty well in my head," he said in a soft, but loud enough whisper, "I don't like people playing with the heads of my younger brother's friends, so how about you keep your images to yourself, though your ability has improved, I'm impressed. Go on with whatever you're doing, as long as it does not harm my family or my brother's friends, but if you do, hmp, I'm sure you'll regret it."

He turned his head to view the image of his brother once more, "Goodnight little brother…" then he turned back to the stairs, "oh…and goodnight to you too…Wilhelmina."

Jane closed the door to Manta's room, "Have a nice slumber, Oyamada Manta," she said before turning around and walking down the hallway. She made it to her room before she heard some chuckling behind her, she turned around and saw Asanoha standing in front of her bedroom.

"It's not like you to lie, Jane," she said with a smile, "I'm quite surprised."

Jane gave a small frown, "I only told half the truth-"

"It's still a lie," Asanoha declared. "You didn't explain to them how your sister was different than all the other Shaman Queen mothers, instead you told of how the hair color changes for all of them."

Jane turned her back on the blonde Asakura, "Does it even matter?"

"Hmm, I don't know, you tell me, Maiden's-oka-san." Jane turned around and suddenly her eyes grew. Right behind her stood both Diethyl Lyserg and the great Tao Ren, "I'll ask you one more time, Maiden's-oka-san," Ren told her, "how important is the secret of your sister?"

Jane frowned, then she closed her eyes and sighed, "Come inside," she ordered, opening the door to her room.

Jane entered her room, bringing three cups of tea and one jar of milk setting it down on the small wooden table inside her room.

"I apologize for the intrusion, Jane-sama," Lyserg apologized dearly as he sat on the small wooden table in Jane's room, "but I was coming back from the bathroom and Ren-kun-"

"Was getting my third jar of milk," Ren finished, "I drink three jars a day at the same time each day and I was on my way to get my third one so I could begin my rest."

"I see," Asanoha said with a gentle smile, "so it was just a coincidence that you passed by while we were talking of this subject. You two got lucky."

"I forgive Lyserg-san, due to him taking such good care of my daughter," Jane informed, then she glared at Ren, "but I have no clue as to why I have to tell you of my secret. But it can't be helped. I am now forced to tell you."

At this time the storm outside had lightened, only small smooth droplets of rain could be heard hitting the roof billions by billions. The room silenced as the patch priestess stood and walked over to a drawer and pulled out a folder, then she threw that folder on the table, the folder opened itself up and antique images could be seen inside.

"That is my sister the great Patch Priestess Asana, also known as Anna the Itako the first."

Ren raised a brow, "Anna the Itako the first? You're referring Yoh's wife as to being Anna the Itako the second?" he asked, taking one of the pictures and eying it out of curiosity. The picture showed a blonde girl with long hair pulled back into a low pony tail, and a red scarf over her head with a horizontal pattern of white diamonds; she wore a loose and sleeveless black shirt with some over sized light grey shorts, in her hand was a samurai's sword.

"She looks a lot like Anna-san," Lyserg commented, looking over Ren's shoulder, eyeing the picture in amazement. The gentle green haired boy raised his head to speak to Jane, "You said something about a change in hair color, Jane-sama? Could you explain this to us?" he added with a kind smile.

"As if she had a choice," Asanoha added with a small smile, "I'd hate to know what my son would do when he finds out you didn't tell him about this."

A vain popped on the blue-haired Patch's temple, she took a deep breath and turned to the two friends of the great Shaman King, "You see, you two, all Patch women have natural black hair, but…the ones who give birth to the Shaman Queen and Shaman Priestess, have a change in hair color during the months of pregnancy, this tell our tribe to be more careful with the child in the womb. But my sister's change in hair color was due to another reason..."

"I was four years old when this happened, and I had a strange vision of my two year old sister, Asana. I told Goldva of it, and she told me that the Great Spirit must've chosen my sister for a great task, I found the interpretation of my vision quite quire but I had to accept it. Two months before Asana's 3rd birthday I had another vision of her, this time I saw that someone was trying to kill Asana, saying that she was a threat because she held the Great Spirit's child. Goldva immediately took action after hearing me tell my vision, she got a hold of Asana, saying that we had to protect her and her future child, Goldva took Asana to the last room on Mu, and when he brought my sister out, she had blonde hair and hazel eyes. My fiancé, Cadm, told me later that Goldva had asked the Great Spirit to merge Asana's soul with another spirit's, in order to protect her from any harm. The plan was to hand my sister off to another family, and that when she would be become older we would send a Patch to retrieve her."

"And it worked too," Asanoha added to Jane's story, "Though it was a bit ironic that the Great Spirit had chosen my spirit to be merged with Asana's soul. The mother of the Shaman Fight's most dangerous participant," she added, placing her index finger on her chin and looking upwards, "hmm, I do wonder why I was chosen."

"Is it not obvious?" Lyserg asked, taking a sip of his tea, "I believe that maybe Hao sensed the soul of his mother, so he found Asana-san and through that he found Anna-san. If Hao would've never found Anna-san then the Patch would have no reason to abandon Anna-san in order to protect her, and Anna-san would've never found Yoh-kun."

"…"

"That makes sense, you're really smart, Lyserg-kun!" Jane exclaimed, softly patting Lyserg on the head, "You'll become a great detective and make your father's soul proud!"

Lyserg blushed and hid his eyes behind his bangs, "Arigatou, Jane-sama," he said softly.

Ren rolled his eyes, and took a large gulp of his milk, _'Anna the Itako the First, huh?'_he placed his bottle down and picked up another picture, slowly flipping and analyzing each one. There were plenty of pictures to flip through, pictures of Anna the 1st with her adoptive itako grandmother, Anna the 1st working at the inn, then Ren stopped flipping when he came to one picture. He looked at the picture closely, Anna he 1st was in a photo with a small light brown headed girl with short hair in a faint light pink dress, a boy with white hair stood beside her in a Buddhist outfit. Ren raised a brow, where had he seen that face? _'Ah!'_"Why is Sati's guardian spirit in this photo?"

Asanoha raised a brow and reached over to take the photo out of the Tao's hand, "Hmm, now that I look at it, hai, I remember this. That girl with the short light brown hair is Sati when she was 10, she was abandoned by both her parents and was raised by a poor priest, she met her guardian spirit when a group of gangsters came to the temple where she lived at and were about to steal a statue of the Thousand-Hand Kannon, Sati tried to stop them but the gangsters threatened her saying the statue couldn't help her in anything. But the Thousand-Hand Kannon's spirit came to life and threatened the gangsters not to harm Sati. The gangsters ran and vowed revenge."

"And how do _you_know this?" the great Tao Ren asked the blonde Asakura, curious but at the same time aloof.

Asanoha gave a soft smile, "You forget that I was merged with Asana/Anna I's spirit, I remember all she went through." She closed her eyes, then she placed her hands on the table and stood up, "Well this has all been fun, but little boys do need to go and sleep."

"Ah, hai, Asanoha-san!" Lyserg said as he began to rise, then Asanoha piped up once more.

"Now that I think about it," she said to herself, "the two of you should have gone to bed earlier, after all you two do half to protect the girl you both love from any perverts at that school." She smiled, "We both entrust you with the Iron Maiden, who you both seem to love so much."

Silence~~~~~~~

"Nani? What are you saying woman?" the great Tao Ren protested, standing from the table, showing his disapproval of the Asakura's words. "To think you would even think of such thing!"

Bason appeared behind his master, "Ah my Bochima is mad!"

Jane rested her chin on the palm of her hand, "Hmp, what a rude young man," she looked up at Ren's face, and cocked a perfect brow, "Uh, Tao-san you seem to be…blushing…"

Lyserg looked up at this and indeed Tao Ren was blushing to the spike of his hair, Lyserg's eyes widened in realization of Asanoha's comment and connected that to the blush. _'Ren-kun…could it be that you also…?'_

Ren turned his back on the British boy, as well as the other two in the room, "Don't get any stupid ideas," he warned, making his way out the door, slamming the door behind him.

Lyserg shot up and ran to the door, slamming it open and turning to look to his left, "Ren-kun! Ren-kun, wait!" He turned to the two inside the room, "Please forgive me!" he apologized and ran out of the room and down the hall.

"Ren-kun, please wait! Ren-kun!" Lyserg called out as Ren speed walked in front of him, suddenly the British green haired boy was becoming tired, he suddenly stopped and bent over, placing his hands on his bent knees, "Ren-kun…" he said through harsh breaths, "I have to know…do you…do you like Jeanne-sama?" he blurted out.

The Tao miraculously stopped dead in his tracks, his giant Chinese spirit appearing beside him, Ren kept his back towards the green haired boy on the ground, "Bason," he called, "go and prepare my room." Bason agreed and immediately disappeared as his Bochima ordered.

Lyserg noticed that Ren was very hesitant in speaking, he saw him clench his hands into fists, and saw him shake in anger. "Ren-kun…is it true?" he asked, hoping, wishing, begging Kami-sama that it wasn't true, that for once he would be completely wrong in his observations.

"Does it really matter?" Ren asked dully, slightly turned his head at an angle, one only being able to view a 90 degree angle of his face, "Does it really matter if I do or not? If I did, I'm not an idiot, I know I couldn't even be an option. It's worthless for her to waste her time with someone as unworthy as me. So really Lyserg, does it matter?"

Lyserg looked at the wooden floor boards of the inn, he knew how Ren felt, oh how he knew, "Maybe she could consider, you never know Ren-kun, you…could probably take better care of her than I could…" he admitted.

Ren kept looking at him, staring him with the blankest mien he had ever had on his face, then released his gaze and turned away. "Don't say stupid things," he said before walking over to him room and locking himself inside.

Lyserg suddenly stood straight, his gaze not letting go of the inn's floor boards, his mind filled with many, many thoughts…

'_I, too,'_he said mentally to himself,_'I, too, know I am so unworthy that I am not an option…'_

****

"What. The. Hell?" Anna whispered to herself upon seeing her and Yoh's younger selves interacting. Yoh was equally surprised in seeing this, but he was unable to say anything due to his shock.

"So why do you look so sad, Anna-chan?" the young Yoh asked the small girl, he took a seat beside of her under the Sakura tree.

Anna-chan looked down at her orange and began to slowly peel it, "It's complicated," she said softly, dropping the peels slowly to the ground.

Yoh-kun blinked and tilted his head slightly to the side, "Complicated how?" he asked, popping a slice of orange into his mouth.

"I doubt you could understand," Anna-chan quickly protested, "I mean it's not like your father thinks you're a demon just because you can hear what people are thinking…" she took a deep sigh, "What am I saying?" she asked herself, "Of course you wouldn't understand, you probably have a very close family…unlike mine…"

"I get what you're saying."

Anna-chan raised her head in shock and stared at Yoh-kun with wide eyes, the small Asakura laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, "He, don't look so surprised," he pleaded, "but I do get what you're saying…you see…my family isn't that close either."

"Really?" the small blonde asked, raising a small brow as Yoh began to tell of his story.

"Hai, I you see I belong to the Asakura Clan, we are very strict in Shamanism, so all the kids in my school have called me demon child, so I stopped going to school, because it was too much for me. You see…I have no friends," he said these last four words in a depressed tone, knowing that he was telling an unknown girl his secrets, but he didn't seem to care, "As for my family…my otou-san is always out hiking or climbing mountains so I never see him…this trip is actually my second time seeing him. As for the rest of my family…well my grandma is in this area, trying to find me a wife, while my grandpa is training me hard so I can accomplish my reason of birth."

Anna-chan blinked as she heard Yoh-kun's story. _'Could it be that this boy is somehow the same as me?'_she asked herself, "Yoh-kun," she began slowly, continuing to peel her orange, "what is Shamanism?" she asked curiously.

Yoh-kun scratched the back of his head, "Ano…a shaman is a person who talks or sees spirits, along with some other stuff, but that's pretty much what makes us different from other people…but…when I tried to explain this to the kids in my class they all ignored me and started making fun of me…I guess you can say I'm lonely…" while he said all this he had been staring at the flakes of snow that had been slowly falling, but then he felt something soft and warm on his hands; he looked down and saw a small pair of hands on his own, then when he looked in front of him he suddenly saw Anna-chan in front of him, her amber-brown eyes looking straight into his own.

"You mean…you can see spirits!" she exclaimed in excitement, bringing her face a bit closer to his, causing the small Asakura to have a great change in color.

"Hmp, you blush to easily, Yoh," the older Anna proclaimed, turning her face away from her idiot husband. The older Asakura scratched the back of his head, laughing sheepishly, "Gomen Anna," he apologized, "but even as a seven year old you're very kawai."

Anna turned to look at Yoh, who gave her that boyish grin of his; Anna turned her head back to their younger selves, "Baka."

Yoh-kun felt his face become warm as Anna-chan's face got closer to his. _'Anna-chan kawai.'_ Anna-chan heard this and ignored it, she was too caught up in the excitement that someone other than her could see spirits, "Yoh-kun I can't believe you can also see spirits, if I can see them does that mean I'm a shaman too?" the small blonde asked, her eyes lighting up with a grand shine.

It took the small brunette a while to let those words sink in to his head, but when they did, "NANI?" he placed his hands on Anna-chan's shoulders and gently pushed her a little back, "Anna-chan, you can also see spirits?" he yelled out in shock.

Anna sweat dropped as she watched the younger self of her husband, "Aho, you're still the same," she commented, Yoh blushed and laughed.

Anna-chan looked at Yoh-kun with her amber-brown eyes, then she nodded, a smile forming on her face. Yoh-kun's eyes widened, "That's so cool, Anna-chan, I knew there were other shamans but I had never met one besides my family!" he immediately stood and brought Anna-chan up with him, "Come with!" he said, pulling Anna-chan along with him.

Yoh and Anna immediately got up to follow their younger selves, they passed the thousands of people that passed by them in the sidewalks, bumping into a person or two, or at least, going right through a person or two. What amazed the both of them was the fact that those two kids were both running so fast that it was hard to keep up. "Why couldn't you have this much energy when you were doing your training?" Anna asked, irritated as she thought of that fact.

"Hehe, I guess maybe all I needed was for you to run with me," he said jokingly, trying to catch up to their younger copies, boy was he tired! He also wondered how his younger self had gotten so much energy; he had always remembered lying down in his room listening to his SoulBob CD's. He never once remembered having enough strength to run even a bit…could it be…that all he ever needed was a friend that could understand him? No one had ever understood him, until Matamune came, but that would be 3 years from now, could it really be that Anna really had been what kept him alive and smiling?

'_The person you'll find will not let you feel lonely.'_

The young Shaman King felt a smile creep up his face, from behind him Anna had read his thoughts and smiled as well, she picked up her pace so that she could be walking by his side, "Maybe next time I'll train with you then," she said to him, trying her best not to smile at her own comment.

Yoh jerked his head to look at his wife, his eyes wide and his mouth dropped opened, "Anna…"

The blonde turned her head away from his view, "Don't get the wrong idea," she added in suddenly, "you said that I being with you would increase your training, that's the only reason I'll do it with you."

Yoh grinned and looked forward, "You never change, Anna," he said, then turning to her, "but," he slightly pushed her to the side, away from the crowd of people, then he pushed her softly against a nearby wall, as he did he gently pressed his lips against hers, starting off soft but then kissing her passionately, causing her to softly moan. Finally, Yoh pulled away, earning a glare from his wife, in return he smiled and kissed her once more, this time his kisses when down to her throat and back up, stopping at her ear. "You know, Anna, you really don't have to keep that promise, I really can wait."

Anna pushed him back by his shoulders and raised a brow at him, "You're kidding, right Asakura?" she mocked, then she grabbed him by the shirt and brought his face to hers, their faces only a millimeter away, "You're the one who can seem to control your urges," she told him.

Yoh didn't answer he was too busy staring at his wife's perfect pink lips, and upon realizing what he was doing he realized that Anna had a point.

"Look right there, Anna-chan, do see that spirit over there?" they heard a childish voice say. They turned and saw the small Asakura pointing over to a far off corner in the location they were at. In that corner was a spirit, and, of course, Anna-chan saw it, she saw the small dark green haired spirit girl in that corner, in her faded pink kimono.

"Hai, I see her, she's troubled because she thinks that something is after her, she keep on repeating 'the yellow eyed one' in her head," the small Kyoyama said after reading the spirit's thoughts.

Yoh-kun turned to the small blonde beside him, "'The yellow eyed one'?" he asked, the small blonde beside him gave a curt nod, "Don't you think we should talk to the girl? You know to see what it means?"

Anna-chan thought of this and turned her head to view the frightened spirit girl, but when she looked back in the direction of the corner, the girl was gone, and Anna-chan could no longer hear the girl's thoughts, if was as if the spirit's reiryoku suddenly disappeared, because Yoh-kun couldn't even sense it…

"Maybe we should go somewhere else," Yoh-kun suggested, suddenly frightened of the absence of force or power from ANY spirits. He took a hold of Anna-chan's hand and took her away from the place they were at.

During the next few hours of the day the Shaman King and Queen had been following their younger selves all over the festival, watching them, wondering how come none of the two remember ANY of these happy and cheerful events, how come they couldn't remember riding the swan boats together, or shooting cans with toy guns to win prizes? Why…?

"Two oranges, please!" Anna-chan ordered to the produce guy at the festival, she handed him a few yen and he handed her a bag, Anna-chan took it and looked in the bag and saw six oranges instead of just two. She was about to ask the man if he had accidentally heard her wrong, but then he heard the man's thoughts, _'Hehe, ah the youth of these days~ so kawai~'_ she didn't want to listen anymore of the man's thoughts so she turned around and headed back to where Yoh-kun stood waiting for her.

The seven year old Asakura looked at the bag in Anna-chan's hands, _'I should've paid instead of her…'_he told himself mentally. Anna-chan walked up to him and held the bag up to his face.

"I don't mind paying!" she said to him with a smile on her cute peach-colored face, "Besides," she quickly added, lowering the bag, "the produce guy was perverted enough to give me four extra oranges because he thought I was kawai."

The smile she gave him cause Yoh-kun to have a faint pink glow on his cheeks, _'I can see why he thought that…'_he said to himself forgetting of Kyoyama's ability, Anna-chan looked up at the sky, staring at the grey clouds coming their way, then she rolled her eyes.

"You're a pervert too, Yoh-kun," she said in a playful tone, though Yoh-kun lowered his head and looked at the ground ashamed, he whispered an apology to her ear, and she raised a childish brow at him. "I was kidding, Yoh-kun, don't worry, you're too young to be a pervert," she added helpfully. She stared at the top of Yoh-kun's lowered head, and she began to think to herself, _'It feels like it's been a while since I've had fun like this with anyone. Arigatou, Yoh-kun…'_she walked over to him and placed her hand on his forehead, lifting his hair so that she could see his eyes, then her eyes met his, "Let's just sit down and eat our oranges, okay?"

Yoh-kun lifted his head and nodded and gave her a boyish grin, "Hai!"

The two of them sat down and began peeling their oranges, while they were eating them Anna-chan piped up with a question, "What does a Shaman do…you know to become strong?"

Yoh-kun placed his orange on his lap and scratched the back of his head, "Well, you have to do tons of hard training, you have to get a guardian spirit and all so you can be able to be a proper shaman…oh and also to keep the bloodline in the Shaman family the families arrange marriages between their heirs."

"So you have to marry a girl shaman?" she asked curiously, raising a brow while popping a slice of orange into her tiny mouth.

The heir of the Asakura nodded, "Hai, we either have to find a powerful girl shaman, chosen by my parents, or I have to marry this girl at my house named Tamao."

"Do you not like Tamao?"

The Asakura scrunched up his face, then shook his head, "It'll be like marrying my sister," he protested.

"I see…" Anna-chan said, "But…she seems to like you…"

Yoh-kun jerked his head towards her, he gulped down his orange and stared at her, her eyes had a very blank appearance at the moment, "How can you say that, Anna-chan?" he laughed, "Tamao and I really are like brother and sister, she would tell me if she liked me!"

"If you say so…"

They continued to eat their oranges quietly, cheers were heard throughout the place and the two younger heard some sweet melodic sounds of instruments playing not to far from where they sat, the sounds could make one fall right on the spot, asleep, but the sounds made the blonde's eyes widen due to the beauty of its sound. Yoh-kun tilted his head, "I know that scary voice," he said, a chill going up his spine.

"_**In the snow swirls of flower petals like apple, an afternoon of falling, the white sun lends a smile, staying near the fridge at an abandoned train station, crying like me, it's not because the journey is tough, I only hate you. I don't feel like seeing you, and resent speaking to you ever again, but, even though this happens, it is alright, because, I, really, hate you…!"**_

"It's Awayaringo," he said in childish fear, suddenly hiding behind Anna-chan's kimono. Anna-chan tilted her head as she listened to Ringo's words, their true meaning flooding over her.

"What a beautiful song…" she muttered to herself.

Yoh-kun came out from behind her, "Nani?" he exclaimed in question, "Anna-chan, have you suddenly become death? Even I can see that this woman is a creepy Nee-san!"

"But…you can't hear…her thoughts when she sings this song…"

That silenced the Asakura completely. He watched her as Anna-chan's eyes glowed by watching Awayaringo's performance, when the performance was done he took Anna-chan by the hand, she turned to look at him, her face having a certain glow to it, "I think I know a place you might like!" he said joyfully.

The older Kyoyama raised a perfect brow as she heard this, "A place I would like?" she asked. Yoh looked questionably at his younger self, then turned to his wife, "Anna, what kind of place _do_ you like?" he asked her. The Shaman Queen stayed silent, ignoring her husbands insulting question, and simply followed behind the children.

"Okay, open your eyes, Anna-chan!"

Anna-chan opened her eyes and they widened. They were inside an old antique store, but it wasn't just an ordinary one, no, this one had many antique dolls, instruments, clothes, you name it. But what surprised the blonde the most was that the window of the store had a "Close for Business" sign on it, but either way the two children (and the unseen Yoh and Anna) were inside the store.

The blonde looked around in amazement staring into the face of every doll that was sitting on chairs or hanging on the walls, then smelling every scented candle that came her way, then she saw old Native American charms lying here and there. She walked over to touch the old charms, reaching out to touch them with her hands…

"Ah, I forgot all about this place," a voice called from behind, causing both Anna-chan and Yoh-kun to jump from surprise. They both turned around and saw-

"Cadm-tou-san!" Anna-chan exclaimed happily, running over and hugging Cadm tightly by the leg. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

Cadm scratched the back of his head, "Well, I was just walking along side the sidewalk and I saw this old place and remembered this used to be my dad's old store," he informed, looking around the place, his eyes stopped for a second as he saw Yoh's spirit in a corner, he gave a quick nod and then looked over to the younger Asakura. "And who is this?" he asked.

Yoh-kun took two steps forward and quickly bowed timidly, "Asakura Yoh, age seven!" he quickly responded. Cadm raised a brow and bent down to take a closer look at the boy, he lifted Yoh-kun's head and examined it.

"You're definitely an Asakura," he said, "I can sense plenty of unused and undiscovered furyoku within you…you'll be a great candidate for the Shaman King!" he added happily, "But may I ask, what are you two kids doing in here?"

The two children blinked and looked at each other, a large grin appeared on Cadm's face, "Could it be you two are on a young date?" he asked jokingly, but then he noticed the blush on Yoh-kun's face and the stern glare of Anna-chan. "Ano…don't let me interrupt you in that case!" he told them, slowly and "casually" taking backwards steps toward the door, but instead he just ended up in a corner.

The kids once again looked at each other, they sighed and went back to looking around, Anna-chan looked in awe at everything she passed, then she saw a torn down piano in the far end of the store, "Ah! Yoh-kun come over here, this way!" she called out, signaling the Asakura to come.

Yoh-kun eyed the thing she was looking at with such interest, "A broken-down piano?" he asked, utterly confused. Anna-chan nodded her head really fast, Yoh-kun's face was puzzled. "But, I don't really think it works anymore, Anna-chan, why are you suddenly happy to see such an old thing?"

Anna-chan softly dusted the piano off with the sleeve of her kimono, "Its fine to me," she said in a soft voice, then after dusting it off, she sat on the bench and pointed to the keys A, Bb (A#), and B, "Besides I only really need these tree keys," she looked at the bag of oranges in Yoh-kun hand, "Yoh-kun, please hand me an orange," she asked, he handed her one and she placed it on the top of the piano, "Watch carefully," she ordered. Then she began pressing the keys.

At a normal touch she pressed the A# key once followed by an A, then two quick Bs. The sound that came out was a simple, _plunk, plank, plu, plu._Yoh-kun stared hard at the orange as Anna-chan pressed the keys once more, then he strangely say the orange began to roll back and forth, and back and forth. Pretty soon he realized that those keys were causing the orange to roll, and his eyes widened, a large appearing on his face. Anna-chan saw the smile on his face and said, "Those keys are the only once that seems to make the orange roll, see?" she pressed some other keys on the piano but it was true, the orange didn't move, then she went back to the sounds _plunk, plank, plu, plu._And the orange bean to roll again.

"Suzushi, Anna-chan!" the young Asakura exclaimed, "Where'd you learn that?" he asked, leaning on the piano to get a closer look of the rolling orange.

Anna-chan closed her eyes for a moment as she kept on pressing the keys rhythmically back and forth and so on. "Well…" she began as she told her story…

_The five year old Kyoyama opened her eyes one day, and woke to the sound of a soft gentle instrument, she headed downstairs and saw her "father" sitting on the stool of the family piano, pressing playing the instrumental of the traditional Sakura song, he stopped as soon as he heard the small blonde coming down the steps._

"_Don't stop, Papa," she begged as she went over to the piano, "you play good…"_

_Damasu didn't look at her, he just stared at the black and white piano keys in front of him, "Go back to your room," he ordered, "I don't have time for demon kids to be wasting my time, I have to get back to work." He immediately stood and left to the kitchen, leaving the small blonde by herself._

_The five year old Anna-chan watched her brother leave, lowering her head, small droplets of water falling down her cheeks, as she repeated those two words in her head, 'Demon child?...' the small Kyoyama sank down on her knees and hid her face from anyone who would happen to come by, who would come down to see her anyway? Her mother was in bed sick again, her father hated her since her birth, and her brother always avoided her due to her father's influence…you could say that for the five years of her life, she was lonely._

'_The only time she's not lonely is when she's with mum…or Cadm.' She heard someone think, she recognized the voice clearly so she didn't have to or want to look up. She heard the footsteps stop right in front of her, and she heard him squat down to look at her, "What do you think you're doing?" he asked in a dull, boring tone, the small blonde feeling his hard gaze on her._

"…_n-nothing…" she softly, forcing herself to stop crying, but that only made more tears come down as she remembered all the things her father thought of her._

_Edward raised a brow at her, placing his index finger on the top of her head and his thumb on her forehead. Then he gently lifted her head up, his eyes grew when he saw those tears coming down as if the small girl's face was a mountain with two waterfalls. 'Didn't father say that demons are heartless being with no emotion?' he asked himself, thoughts racing in and out of his head, 'Then why is this girl…crying…?'_

_Another thing that her brother and father had in common, they never called her by her name, they always called her "that girl" or some other thing, Edward had a point…she wasn't lonely with Akiko or Cadm._

_Edward sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out something bright and round, Anna-chan had to use her sleeve to rub away the tears so that she could see he was handing her an orange. "Take it," he ordered, "the color orange is supposed to give one energy or an adrenaline rush, in other words, it's supposed to make you happy."_

_Anna-chan took the fruit in her tiny hands and observed it before speaking, "but, I thought that the significance of orange is commonly thought to be connected to the idea that orange symbolizes fire. The Renunciates' fiery ochre robes display outwardly the inner transformation that is happening - the burning of ego, their former selves, and their personal wants. Also, the color can signifies courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation, often an orange aura is associated with intellectual ambition or stubbornness, not happiness as Onii-chan says it to be."_

_The older Kyoyama raised a brow, then he slightly chuckled, standing up from his previous position, "Well that's what other people think, personally, oranges make me happy…" he looked over at the piano, a smile creeping up on his face, "In fact, let me show you something…"_

"That was the first time Onii-chan ever even looked at me, I guess you can say that is why I like oranges…"

Yoh-kun was now resting his head on his crossed arms that were laid on the piano, with a smile on his face he had been staring at the rolling orange while listening to Anna-chan tell of her story, those notes she played kept on sounding throughout the room, then his smile turned into a childish grin, "You know, when you listen for a really long time it sounds like the piano keeps saying 'Funga Fu Fu'" he laughed.

Anna-chan blinked and listened in to the keys she played, and indeed, the piano was saying "Funga Fu Fu," repeating it constantly. Then she began giggling, "You have a point…" she said before hearing the small Asakura whisper those three words along with the piano, "Funga Fu Fu, Funga Fu Fu, Funga Fu Fu, Funga Fu Fu…"

A vein popped on the Shaman Queen's temple, "You mean I'm the reason behind that stupid habit of yours," she rhetorically asked in annoyance, Yoh just laughed.

"I don't mean to interrupt your playtime, kiddies," Cadm suddenly spoke up, "But it looks as if it's about to rain, so I think it would be best if we head back."

The young Asakura immediately shot his head up and looked at the clock that hung on the old run-down walls of the store, "Kya! Is it really this late?" he shouted, "Wahh, Oba-chan is going to hit me with her cane when she realizes I've been gone this long!"

Cadm tried his best to keep in his laughter, he walked over to Yoh-kun and placed a large hand on his shoulder, "If that's the case, then I'll gladly help you find your parents," he looked up at the small blonde, "Anna, are you coming with us?"

Kyoyama shook her head, her long hair moving rapidly back and forth as she did, "I have to go back to the hotel with the rest of the school, gomen."

Cadm blinked and began making his way out the door, "I'll be waiting outside, so come out whenever you're ready to go, got it Asakura-kun?" he called out from behind him.

The room was silent as Cadm closed the door behind him, then Anna-chan let out a long sigh, "You know," she softly said, "part of me really doesn't want to go back there," she admitted, "Now realizing that I am a shaman made me also realize that I don't fit in with everyone else."

Yoh-kun slightly tilted his head as she said this, "But you have to return to your family, Anna-chan."

"Now that I think about it more clearly…" she began sadly, "Yoh-kun, I really don't think that…they're really my family…"

"Nani?"

"It makes sense doesn't it? I mean none of them can see spirits, and they seem pretty normal to me, plus…they've…never told me or celebrated my birthday. As far as I can tell…I can't be their child."

Yoh-kun stared at the young girl questionably, walking over to her, placing his small hand on her tiny shoulder. "Either way, Anna-chan, they're your family, and you have to go back to them." He smiled, "Everything will be alright. But…if I could I would take you to my parents to be my future wife instead of whoever my parents will pick."

Anna-chan softly smiled, her original glow returning to her once more, "Arigatou…Yoh-kun," she thanked slowly, with that they waved goodbye and headed off in their own ways.

"Kisama! Where in the world did that girl run off to?"

"Edward," Misaka whined from behind, "All we've done was search for Kyoyama-san, but why don't we head back, it looks as if it is going to rain so the festival is going to be over soon."

"All the more reason I have to find Anna," he strongly stated as he kept on walking.

Misaka frowned, why was Edward's sister always getting in her way? Oh well she might as well help him, "Well then I'll go look over by the temples! Maybe she just needed to go and make her Christmas wish?"

Edward kept quiet as the blue haired girl disappeared from his sight, "I doubt she'll be there, she'll never go to a place where she'll most likely get her headaches…but as long as it stops Shio-san's whining…"

Misaka ran on, making her way passed all the people that were leaving, "Aw, everyone seems like they had so much fun…why did Kyoyama have to run away like that in the first place?" she asked herself in anger, "I mean both her and Shizuki-san are geniuses so what's so bad about being paired up? I swear, if those two keep on fighting…their fighting is going to be the end of me!"

"Wahh, this is very unfortunate," Anna-chan pointed out to herself as she ran through the sleet that came pouring down from the sky, trying her best to dodge all the rain drops that came pouring down on her. She ran the fastest she could, only to bump right into someone in her way.

"Itai!" she said as she fell back, she rubbed her back as she stood right up.

"Huh, Kyoyama-san?" a voice asked above her. Anna-chan looked up and immediately recognized the locks of fiery orange hair that stood out from the rest of twilight's cloak, the hair of Shizuki Shiori. "Why are you out here at this hour? Everyone is already at the hotel preparing themselves for the Christmas Feast."

Anna-chan narrowed her eyes at the red head, "Why aren't _you_ back there too?"

Shiori blinked, then smiled, "I like walking in the rain, besides…it helps my ego to go and break some rules once in a while…" she held her hand out for the small blonde to take, "The hotel is far from here, so I might as well take you somewhere you can dry off."

The blonde just walked past her, ignoring her offer, "I can find a place to dry myself, so leave me alone."

"At least let me take you to the nearest place where you can dry yourself," Shiori offered once more, a hopeful look on her face. "As your senpai you really don't have much of a choice, you know."

The blonde frowned, "That's your opinion…but I have my own," she retorted, then she began running forward, running her usual speed.

Shizuki blinked as she watched the blonde's retreating figure, then her clueless mien changed as a malevolent smirk creped up her face, "Well then…" she began pulling up the sleeves of her blue kimono, "I guess the chase begins…Queenie."

"Anna-chan runs too fast, don't you think Anna?"

Anna crossed her arms in front of her chest as she stood beside her husband's tired figure, they had been running after Anna's younger self ever since she ran away from Shizuki Shiori, but they lost her due to the young blonde's incredible speed. "Found her," Anna said, pointing over to a fast moving pink and yellow blur that moved a few feet away from them.

Yoh stood up from the ground and looked at the blur that his wife was pointing to, "That's her alright, but…" he looked to where the blonde was heading, his eyes growing wide, he immediately grabbed Anna's hand and yanked her with him, running after Anna-chan.

'_Got to keep running, I don't like that girl, she's scary…'_ Anna-chan kept on running and hadn't stopped since she made it past Shiori-san, the blonde was suddenly becoming very tired but she knew she couldn't stop right now, there was a shelter just a few feet ahead of her, and she wasn't going to stop until she reached it. The only thing was that just when she was getting closer and closer to the huge wooden shelter, she felt a harsh nudge at her head, causing her to stop in place. _'Nani?'_ she asked herself, then she felt it again, this time it made her fall to the ground, soon enough it felt as if someone was kicking her multiple times inside her head and it wasn't until she started hearing _them_that she realized what it was…

'_Kami-sama, this year I wish for a healthy life…'_

'_I hope to be able to confess this year…'_

'_Please don't let my family move this year…'_

'_I beg of you, please don't let my sister die…'_

'_I really hope that he likes me…'_

'_Give me strength…'_

'_Give me knowledge…'_

'…_onegai…'_

'…_arigatou…'_

'…_gomen…'_

Voices from her surroundings kept on taunting her, becoming louder and larger in numbers, coming in her head as if a storm was forming from the inside. She clutched her hands in her ears hoping to block their hurtful voices in her head.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Their voices seemed to go louder and louder as each passing moment, taunting her till they were sure she almost reached her limit, then she head another voice, but this one wasn't inside her head.

The voice was laughing, "I didn't really think you'd come here yourself, Queenie," the voice mocked, "I was pretty sure I was going to have to drag you here myself."

Anna-chan opened her eyes, her hands still over her ears, sweat dripping down her forehead; she looked up at the voice and saw locks of flames tied into two high pigtails, and two violet-grey orbs starring at her in humor. "Shizuki," she spat out angrily, being both confused and filled with rage.

"Don't be so surprised, Your Highness," Shiori mocked in a whole new tone, her voice sounding more of age and her way of being suddenly changing into something else, something more…cruel.

"Don't belittle me," Anna-chan threatened, trying to ignore all the voices that were slamming themselves into her head, "I am no royal highness of any lowlife demon," she spat out. Using her elbows to push herself up, she began to stand but the agonizing pain easily knocked her back down to the ground with a loud _thump._ Tears began to form in her eyes as she realized that in this position she was helpless, every time this would happen it would make her weak and she would usually blackout afterwards.

The voices became louder and louder, each one thumping and kicking hard inside the blonde's head, eventually she began squirm around, kicking her legs hard against the snow, "Yamete! Yamete!" she shrieked in pain.

Shiori became amused of the girl's shrieking, she walked over to Anna-chan kicking body and bent over, a huge smirk plastered on her face, "Indeed, you're not the queen of demons. Our queen could never be like this over a small headache."

Anna-chan's eyes jerked open, _'__Our_ _queen…? Then…that means…!'_

"Boy you're really slow," the redhead stated, taking a seat on a large boulder that was covered in snow, she sat on it and crossed her legs, resting her head on the palm of her hand, "Even your arrogant father figured it out before you did, that's pretty sad, and you're supposed to be a genius."

"How…" the blonde grunted, "How can you…be a demon…" she asked, the voices coming close to their limit, pushing and pushing hard, causing the agonizing pain to increase by each little thought that entered her head.

The fiery headed girl blinked, a certain mocking image glittering in her eyes, she lifted her head off her palm and stretched her arms out behind her, "Some Shaman Queen you turned out to be," she insulted with humor, "but then again you're still a child no matter what you are." She raised her head up, starring at the grey clouds above her, "You should at least be familiar with Japanese history…tell me Queenie, have you ever heard of…a fox in disguise?"

When she saw the small girl's eyes widen she took it as a yes, "Well I guess you could consider me that, but it's all so very different…why am I telling you this, you might be asking. Well I want you to know exactly what's going to kill you." A smirk appeared on her face as she said those words and her eyes turned malicious, "You know, there are only a few of us left, our queen chooses strong and powerful people who know of the spirit world, then if she is ever about to die, her ashes are bestowed on those selected few and they enter our body, forcing us to become these…'foxes in disguise', and we live until someone decides to get rid of us."

"But it seems as if all those Onis in hell were wrong about you, Queenie, you are no challenge to me, how you'll ever be worthy of being the Shaman King's wife I'll never know."

Anna-chan wasn't able to ear all of what the girl had told her of, her was reaching her limit with all the thoughts and prayers that came from the people at the temple behind her, it only took a few more till…

'_Please allow this year to be filled with bliss…'_

"Yame-AGH!" she shouted in pain, as another thought trespassed her head.

'_Where in the world did she go? Kami-sama please help me.'_

"YAMETE!"

'…_I want one more year of life…'_

Shizuki Shiori smirked as she watched the girl's eyes flew open, her eyes suddenly rolled back into her head, her body twitched and arced itself, her face suddenly becoming pale, as it muffled itself into the piles of snow. Shiori smirked, "You've reached your limit…Queenie."

And then Anna-chan screamed…

"I thank you for finding our son," Asakura Keiko thanked gratefully as she took a bow to thank Cadm, Mikihisa, Yohmei, and Kino all bowed in gratitude as well.

Then the six shamans all involuntarily froze, so quickly that people gave them queer looks as they passed by, but they could not help it, for they all felt a sick feeling in their bodies.

Cadm looked up towards the sky as he heard an ear-shattering hit the sky, his eyes wide in realization, he looked at Ohachiyo who also looked up at the sky, both of them having the same sick gut feeling in their stomachs.

Kino tightened the grip around her cane and started to shake involuntarily, "I feel furyoku suddenly leaving its owner in great amounts," she whispered under her breath. Yoh-kun looked up at her then turned to Cadm and Ohachiyo, only to see their retreating figures running far away from them as they ran off.

Anna froze, Yoh froze, both of them didn't move as they took in the scene in front of them, Anna-chan laying on the ground, her body beginning to twitch, jerking around as if she was being electrocuted; all the while, her face was blank-unconscious. It seemed as if there was some wild thrashing inside her body that caused her to be this way. Then each time she twitched a ball would appear around her, glowing in white light, eventually all the orbs merged together, a blinding light striking them and their surroundings.

When all were able to see, they weren't surprised as to what they saw there…

There, standing extremely tall with its vicious claws and fangs, stood an oni.

Shiori grinned as she saw the giant demon rise, she took a few steps towards it, only to have the demon let out an ear-shattering screech, the redhead stopped walking and instead frowned, "You act as if you don't know your own kind, Oni, how sad." She turned her back to the oni, lifting her hand to her face, she turned around with her eyes closed, but there were two violet-grey orbs on her index and middle finger, "Oi, Oni," she called out to get its attention, when the oni turned to view her with those hungry eyes, Shiori opened her eyes, "Recognize your kind now?" she asked.

Yoh winced as he looked at the young girl's oculus, they were not the violet-grey color that everyone had seen in Shiori's eyes, but now their color had sent a thrill of terror through our Shaman King. Shiori's eyes were now two small copies of the sun, a sort of burning golden color that gave someone reason to fear, a reason for someone to cower by just looking at them.

Yoh felt a nudge from his wife, he looked at her for a brief moment as she quickly whispered to him, "The yellow eyed one."

"_Look right there, Anna-chan, do see that spirit over there?" they heard a childish voice say. They turned and saw the small Asakura pointing over to a far off corner in the location they were at. In that corner was a spirit, and, of course, Anna-chan saw it, she saw the small dark green haired spirit girl in that corner, in her faded pink kimono._

"_Hai, I see her, she's troubled because she thinks that something is after her, she keep on repeating 'the yellow eyed one' in her head," the small Kyoyama said after reading the spirit's thoughts._

The Shaman King felt a great feeling of sickness in his gut, _'Why does eyes color have to matter?'_he asked himself, _'Ren has amber eyes, so does Anna, and they aren't demons.'_

His wife had read his mind, "Color is a key in human attitude, when we see a color it changes what we feel, like blue makes you sad and red makes you angry. Yellow is a color that usually brings fear or cowardliness into ones self when looking at it, so yellow/amber or black are colors that suit the eyes of demons. That is the natural color of the eyes of Shaman Queens because it brings fear when your stare into amber eyes," she rapidly explained.

The oni stared into the eyes of the "eight" year old girl in front of him, in those few seconds he coward in fear and fell onto his knees, Shiori became amused by this, "About time you realize who your superiors are oni, to show me your respect I want you to do something for me," –the oni raised his head to look at her, the horn on his nose being only a few inches away from her gut- "I want you to kill your little…mother. You may eat her soul if you please."

"Anna-chan!" Yoh shouted as he began to run forward, trying to stop anything from harming the small girl, he continued forward until he felt something get a tight grip on him, he turned around and saw Anna holding him back by his shoulder, "Anna…" then his expression became one of anger, "do you expect me to just stand here and watch this?" he shouted at her.

Anna lowered her head, hiding her expression behind her locks of hair, she gritted her teeth together, "…baka…" she pulled him back by the shoulder and in one tug, she slammed him against a huge tree, Yoh taking in all the pain on his back. Anna stood over him, her eyes suddenly becoming glassy, her hand were pulled into two tight fist, and she was shaking in anger. "Do you forget that all of this has already happened?" she shouted at him, her eyes fuming with yellow fire, "What are you going to do? What can you do? Tell me Yoh, what?"

"Anna…"

"All of this has happened already and there's nothing you can do to prevent it! You weren't here to save me back then so why are you going to try now?"

He watched her body suddenly weaken, and he watched as she collapsed right on top of him, her face falling on his chest. He suddenly felt his chest area become wet, and instinctively he wrapped his arms around her frail body and hugged her tightly against him, "…gomen…Anna…" he apologized, his eyes also becoming glassy and wet, "…gomen…"

The oni let out a loud horrifying shriek among the atmosphere, as it took large steps over to Anna-chan's unconscious body, it opened it mouth widely and pulled back its large claws, ready to strike right through the girl's body…

"Kyoyama-san?"

Shiori blinked and the oni turned around, seeing a girl with long blue hair and green eyes standing beside a tree, her hand cupped over her mouth, her eyes wide in exclamation. She was about to run over to examine the small girl's body until she saw something large imprinted in the slush, a giant footprint about six times her size, possibly belonging to something two-three times her height.

In horror she took a step back, her vision becoming blurry as she remembered seeing a similar footstep at her younger sister's death scene, she froze as she heard someone speak behind her.

"Well Shio Misaka, I didn't think I'd see you here," the voice said. Misaka turned around and saw Shiori standing right there in front of her, a huge smile on her face, her eyes closed and her arms crossed behind her back. "Well this was actually very fortunate…" Shiori mused, "you see…" she opened her eyes revealing those fearsome balls of dark sunlight, "I was getting hungry." In that same second, Misaka felt a sharp pain in her stomach, as if something was reaching inside her, and something was indeed reaching inside her, for when she looked down she saw the girl's hand going right through her stopping before making an opening on the other side of her. But there was no blood.

"Don't worry about a thing Shio-Senpai," the girl mocked, giving her a sweet yet nefarious smile, "I know how much you hate blood since your sister's accident, so I'm not going to kill you and taint the pure snow with your blood, I'm just going to eat your soul."

"N-na-nani-ah!" Misaka's words were cut off as she felt Shiori's hand go farther into her body, then she felt a sharp pain and let out a involuntary scream that could break anyone's ears off, Shiori ignored the girl's shrills and began pulling towards her, Misaka suddenly felt her soul leaving her body, and she became lightheaded and her body fell to the ground, her soul/spirit in the hands of the redheaded demon.

Shiori looked at Misaka's soulless body that laid over the snow, then she turned to look at the frightened spirit in her hands, "This won't take long I promise," as soon as she was about to suck the soul in she heard large footsteps coming her way and saw the oni coming towards her, its hungry eyes staring at the spirit in Shiori's hands. Shiori blinked as she looked at the oni, "Hmm, you want this snack don't you, oni-san?" she turned to Misaka's spirit, "Well I've had my lunch so-"

"Iie!"

Three heads suddenly piped up and looked towards the back of the temple, there Anna-chan was slowly rising off the snow tainted ground, her body shaking due to her losing too much furyoku when she called forth the oni, "Iie…onegai…don't…please don't harm Shio-san's soul…" she weakly begged, taking small, weak steps towards them, "…onegai…"

The redheaded demon became amused, "Is this person important to you, Queenie?" she asked, clutching the spirit with a tighter grip, causing it to whimper in pain.

"No." Anna-chan answered, causing Shiori's brows to fly up in shock of the girl's answer, "But," she calmly added ignoring the looks she was receiving, "she's Onii-chan's friend, an important person to him, if Onii-chan gets sad then…"

"So you want this person to live, eh?" the girl let go of the spirit, only to have it gripped by the oni, who grasped her tightly and began to bring Misaka to its mouth. Slowly, the spirit was reaching the oni's mouth, only being three inches away…

"Yamete…" Anna-chan muttered, pulling herself up by using a large boulder that laid beside her.

Two inches away…

"Yamete." The girl muttered once more taking more weak steps towards the oni.

One inch away…

"YAMETE!"

At that moment, when Anna-chan screamed, two things happened simultaneously…

A large hole opened up in the sky above, light shining brightly through it, many beings in white robes came down, Misaka began to levitate upward onto the sky, being guided by the being, and all of them went in the direction of the light, trumpets were heard throughout the place and a large heavenly hand reached out, taking Misaka gracefully in its palm and guiding her upward towards a land of eternal life.

At the same time, a large, gaping hole was surfacing on the ground below. . .no, more like, the ground seemed to be melting, and two red hands burst out from beneath the ground and grabbed Oni, malicious laughter filling the entire area, as it dragged the shrieking oni down into flames of fire, vanishing it from the surface of the earth.

As for Shiori, she stared widely at the hole that had closed seconds ago, both fear and relief washing over her, then she looked forward at the angelic blonde that held onto the boulder and immediately came feelings of loathe and disgust.

Anna-chan's legs gave in and she fell down, banging her head on the giant rock as she came down, then her body went limp, making her seem as if she were dead, but her breathing continued smoothly so it was as I she was in a profound sleep.

Shiori looked from the child over to where hell's mouth had appeared and vanished, then she began laughing, "Hahahaha, this is no set back," she convinced herself, "I've 'lived' for 1200 years and there is no way I am going to simply vanish into hell's mouth as the oni did." She walked over to a large tree and lifted her arm up, grabbing a branch with a tight grip and breaking it off the tree in one tug, "Looks like I just have to do this on my own," she walked over to Anna-chan's body and pulled her arms over her head, "Say sayonara, Queenie."

As she brought the branch down it rapidly turned into a shining blade, slicing the air until it was only inches away from Anna-chan's body, as soon as it seemed it was going to slice the body in half, the blade was stopped by a tiny hand.

Shiori's eyes grew as she saw Anna-chan's hand stopped the blade's impact on her body, blood dripping slowly from the palm of her tiny hand, but what truly brought fear to the demon was when she saw the blonde's half opened eyes, they were their usual amber color but it seemed as if red was slowly dominating her eyes' color, Anna-chan barely moved an inch, but she moved her eyes to looked at the demon with those newly colored amber-red eyes, her lips parted a millimeter apart, "Sayonara, Shiori."

If any human could've seen what had happened next they wouldn't have believed it. As Anna-chan said those words, a giant robot like spirit appeared, its height higher than the highest geographical location or national monument that had ever existed. It's appearance was as if it was formed of shining blue crystals with bolts of blue electricity holding its pieces together, and in an eighth-of-a-second after those words the giant spirit's finger bolted right through the demon's stomach, blood tainting the pure snow that covered the groung, and in another eighth of a second fire left the finger of the enormous being, changing Shiori's whole body into a burnt corpse.

With all that, Anna-chan closed her eyes…

****

_**PRESENT DAY AMERICA**_

"Silva, it seems we have received a message from one of the previous shaman contestants," Kalim informed as he handed the letter to his best friend. Silva took the letter and began to read it, his eyes going back and forth between the sentences.

"From Sati?" Silva asked questionably, looking up from the letter in his hands.

Kalim nodded as he turned back to the Patch screen, typing rather quickly on the keyboard, "She wishes for me to go into the Patch computer database and look in the recycling bin for something," he informed as he typed.

Lip and Rap began climbing up Silva's shoulders to have a closer look at the letter, "What else does it say, Silva?" Rap asked, wishing she could read.

Silva took another look at it, "She asks of us to send one Patch Priest to go to the Funbari Inn and…" he brought the letter closer to his eyes to make sure what he was reading was correct, "…and take the Shaman Prince so that they can bring it to Shinra Private Academy?...She says it's an emergency."

"If it concerns the Shaman Prince then we might as well do as Sati says, she wouldn't just tell us to do it for no reason," Kalim said, his eyes glued to the computer screen.

"But all the other Priest went back to the village," Lip piped up.

"I could go," a voice piped up softly from behind. They turned around and saw a tan girl with blue eyes and long spiky-edged black hair, she wore a white dress similar to Lip and Rap's except it was a more mature looking one that came down to about an inch above mid-thigh, she wore high moccasins that came about three inches over her knees, she wore two oversized silver bracelets, one on each wrist. She wore a large red headband that was half covered by her hair and a red necklace around her neck, on her ears she had two large feather earrings, and in the middle of her dress was a picture of what seemed to be an alien.

Kalim looked at the girl and smiled, "Ah yes! That would be great if you could go! I don't think you have fully met our shaman friends yet so it would do you good to go. Besides, I need Silva to help me with something here."

The girl gave a small bow and immediately left to go do her assignment. Silva walked over to Kalim, both Lip and Rap were still on his shoulders, "What do you need help on?" he asked.

Kalim swung his chair to view Silva dead in the eye, his expression stern, "I don't know how to use this computer," he informed.

Silva and the twins all sweat dropped, "Are you kidding me, Kalim?" Lip asked, placing her small hands on her hips, "Me and Rap know how to, we've watched Goldva do it lots of times!"

Rap nodded in agreement, the twins ran over to the computer and clicked on the recycling bin, "What do you want us to search for, Kalim?" Rap asked, already in position to type.

"The file name is U-L-T-I-M-O," he told them.

The two girls did as they were told and brought out the file, they opened the folder and Silva and Kalim's eyes widened. The archive read:

"_**Shaman Fight 1500"**_

****

_**OZOREZAN, JAPAN 1992**_

"Move out of my way! Move it!" Edward ordered as he ran down the hallways of the Kyouto hospital, pushing people aside, when he made it to room 007 he stopped dead in his tracks and slammed the door open. There in the room he saw Cadm sitting in a chair by the hospital bed, his expression a stern but calm one.

"What'd the doctor say?" Edward asked as he stepped slowly into the room, he looked over at the figure lying on the bed, her locks of blonde hair were spread out throughout the pillow, her face was drenched in sweat and almost pale.

Cadm looked at Anna-chan's body, "Well, Misaka-san was dead before the ambulance got there, but your sister is just in a short coma, they say it'll only last a few days and she'll be back to normal soon."

"Do you know what happened?"

"Rape," someone said curtly from the doorway, Cadm and Edward both turned around and saw Kyoyama Damasu standing at the doorway, a clipboard in his hands, he walked inside the room, ignoring the deadly looks he was receiving from his son, "I just checked over Shio Misaka's corpse a while ago, she was definitely raped, I already did the paper work and everything. The rapist must've decided that Shio Misaka was a better treat than…Anna, so he went after her first. I'm guessing that…Anna decided to stop the rapist and he just knocked her out so he could get to Shio Misaka."

"You honestly expect me to believe that this was a rape?" Edward asked, his eyes having a certain burning fire, "You're not even supposed to be here, so how do I know that you didn't do this, father?"

"I came here because your mother got sick again and needed to go to a hospital, and since this one in Kyouto was the closest and one of the best-"

"Don't give me that shit," Edward warned as he stood up and stormed out of the room.

Damasu sighed and gave a shrug, "Teenagers," he said, then he turned to Cadm and walked over to the bed, "I'm going to have to check her vital signs so I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room."

"You can check her vital signs with me in the room," Cadm told him, crossing his buff arms in front of his chest, "I'm not leaving this room until she wakes up."

Damasu frowned, "Have it your way," he said.

The room was completely silent, so silent that you could possibly hear the uneasy breathing that belong to both Yoh and Anna, both of them lied on the hotel bed, both wearing their night yukatas, and both thinking hard of what they saw today.

Yoh turned to his side, having a good view of his wife's face, "Are you sure you're okay, Anna?" he asked extremely concerned,

"Yeah. I'm sure…"

"Cadm called, he said that Anna-chan is in a coma, it must be from hitting her head when she fell, or by using too much furyoku…"

"Hmm."

"Hey Anna?"

"Nani, Yoh?"

"That large spirit…was that…The Great Spirit?" he asked in awe of the image of that great powerful that appeared.

"Hai, that was its oversoul form."

"And you could summon it?"

"Hai, I still can…but it's too much trouble to summon something that big…I hardly ever had to use it…"

"You've use it before?"

"…I'd rather not talk about it Yoh…"

"…gomen…"

Not knowing what else he could do, he went back to laying on his back, pulling the covers over the both of them. As they got under the covers, she scooted over and put her head on his chest, he began pulling back the hairs that covered her face.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked her curiously, his eyes on her.

"I'll tell you later," she promised, her left hand crept onto his chest.

He eyed her, "Okay then," he said uncertainly. He wrapped his arm around her, a blush appearing on his face for no reason. "Good night," he said nervously.

"Good night…"

As he closed his eyes, Anna took her index finger and began tracing the outline of his pecs, eventually trailing down to his abs. He stirred and breathed deeply, but said nothing, allowing her to continue. She inhaled sharply and closed her eyes. Yoh's eyes flew open as the hand dipped lower and he grabbed her wrist.

"Anna?" he cried out in shock, jerking himself up to a sitting position.

Her gaze didn't waver as well . "I promised you, Yoh."

A blush streaked across his face. "Anna…" She was looking at him earnestly. They held each other's gaze as he seemed to be deep in thought, conflicted with himself. "You don't have to-,"

"I know. But I want to."

"But what about…today's events, do you not feel a little…depressed of what's happened?"

"I've seen worse, Yoh…" she whispered softly, a hidden tone mixed with her usual dull one. She looked up to meet his eyes, strange eyes searching for an answer…

He shook his head and looked away from her. "No…I can't…"

"Yoh..." She put her hand on his cheek and turned his face back to her. She took his right hand and placed it on her chest; she could hear his acute intake of breath as his hand fought against the rest of him. "I'm yours, I'm sure you know that."

He stared at her, then leaned in to kiss her passionately. His mouth trailed up to her ear.

"Are you sure?" he whispered.

"Are you questioning me, Asakura?" she asked him, raising a playful brow.

He kissed her again as he rolled on top of her, his mouth still near her ear. "Only if you let me," he told her before kissing her once more…

****

_**APRIL 2000, SHINRA PRAVATE ACADEMY**_

"Oi, Ren! Pass it this way!"

Ren chip passed the ball over to Horohoro, who immediately arched his back and swung his head forward, heading the ball over to Chocolove, another player got in front of him and stole the ball before it could reach them so they went off after him. The player ran over to the goal where Lyserg stood, looking nervously at the approaching ball, the player did a quick instep kick and launched it to the goal; Lyserg involuntarily threw himself to receive the ball right in his gut.

"Lyserg-kun is good at this, don't you think Maiden?" Tamao asked from the sidelines clapping her hands at Lyserg's amazing catch.

Jeanne softly nodded, "Mmhmm, one would think he had played this before…"

Pirika stood on the school benches, balancing herself on her tip toes as she cupped the side of her mouth, "You better score a goal, Onii-chan!" she ordered, "Come on, you can run faster than that!"

Manta sweat dropped at hearing the Ainu girl's…"encouraging" chants, he laid himself out on the bench he sat on, letting out a long sigh. For some strange unknown reason, the principal let all the students have a free day outside, saying something like the superintendent thought they had worked pretty hard these last three weeks, but all the others found it a bit strange.

"_Why would they give us a free day the same day Hao and Annaka are taking that graduation exam?" Ren pointed out a while back._

"_It's seems to me that the superintendent of this school wants Hao and Annaka-san to take that exam, in order for them to work without disturbance why not give everyone else a free day outside," Lyserg added to Ren's observation._

What Ren and Lyserg said both made sense but yet why would anyone want to force those two to take a graduation exam? "None of this makes any sense," Manta sighed, the boy was so lost in thought at the moment that not even Pirika's screaming could snap him back.

"Ano, Manta-kun?" Tamao began poking Manta desperately on the arm; Manta looked up and saw her pointing over to the entrance doors, his eyes widened. There, coming towards them, was Jackson, his usual long red hair was down and the only difference Manta could see was that he was wearing a black tux, instead of his usual clothing that Manta had seen him in at the Shaman Fight.

He walked over Jeanne, Tamao, Pirika, and Manta, his face stern and firm, causing both Manta and Tamao to quiver in fear, Jeanne stood and gazed her ruby eyes up at him. Jackson stopped right in front of the French maiden, "Maiden-san," he acknowledged, giving her a curt bow.

Jeanne slightly curtsied, Jackson rose and continued on, "We require the attention of you and your…friends," he told her sternly.

"You have our attention," Ren said just as sternly, walking off the school's soccer field and heading over to Jackson, arms crossed, with Lyserg, Horo, and Chocolove right behind him.

The Chinese monk's head turned towards his former competitors, his expression not changing even the least bit, "You all need to come with us, Lady Sati has ordered us to bring you all into the office, she's the one that requires your attention." He looked around, looking at every face, "Where's that dark haired copy of Anna-sama?" he asked.

"She's right here, Jackson," Cado informed appearing from the far side of the school, one of his hands was on Nianna's shoulder and the other one was grabbing both her wrists. "She's got Anna-sama's attitude, I can tell you that," he joked.

Yainage came from behind him, holding the wrist of a handsome boy with olive skin, blue eyes, and long pitch black hair. "We also got her servant boy," monk informed, following behind Cado.

The boy let out a growl, "Her what?" he demanded to know.

Nianna swung her leg and kicked him in the gut, "Shut up, Nagehiko," she ordered, causing him to do as he was told.

"Either way," Jackson interrupted, becoming slightly annoyed with these…"kids", "We cannot allow Lady Sati to wait any longer," he was about to begin walking until his eyes caught the face of Tamao and Pirika, he pointed them out, "You two can stay out here, no questions asked."

"I see you brought me my other guests," Sati mused upon seeing the arrival of the shamans. When they entered the principal's office they saw Ryu and Faust also in the room, sitting on the large couched that the principal had bought. Sati looked over at her followers and thanked them then she noticed the two dark haired shaman being gripped tightly by Yainage and Cado, "Oh!," she spoke up, "I hope you were not harsh to them, Team Myo-o."

Yainage and Cado let go of Nianna and Nagehiko, Sati smiled and signaled Nianna to come towards her, with a severe mien Nianna did as she was told. Sati eyed her noticing the amazing Anna-like features in the girl, when she was done she smiled, "You are indeed a copy of Anna, you should consider yourself lucky," she told her kindly.

Nianna said nothing.

"Excuse me, Sati?" Lyserg interrupted nervously, earning death glares from Jackson, "I'd really like to know why you have come here to talk to us."

"Sati seems to know something about the threat that is after Yoh-kun," Faust informed as everyone came through the office door, he gave them all a lazy smile as they entered, "This information could help us stop the threat before it reaches Yoh-kun and Miss Anna."

"As expected of Lady Sati!" Ryu exclaimed, his eyes in the shape of large beating hearts.

Sati leisurely placed her chin in the palm of her thin hand, to long delicate finger sticking out while the others were under her chin, "Well actually, I'm here to inform that I know what the threat is."

Eyed widened…

"Komeri, please bring me the items." Sati asked of the small dark Indian girl, Komeri came inside the room carrying two things, an old rusty brown oracle bell, and a large worn out book, she placed them both on the table in front of Sati, then she shyly exited the room; Sati then turned to team Myo-o, "Please leave us," she gently ordered.

When team Myo-o closed the door behind them Sati turned to the shamans asking them all to take a seat, "The threat that has come to take Asakura Yoh's throne is a very dangerous one," she began, placing the book and the oracle bell in front of her in an organized manner, "but the threat did not occur just now, the threat pretty much started at the last Shaman Fight, the 1500 Shaman Fight." –She touched the items on the desk- "These items belonged to my ancestor that lived and participated through the 1500 Shaman Fight, Saigan Sacchi. She lived through that horrible battle long enough to take old video recordings of the fights and place them in her oracle bell, hiding them away for a time when there would be a threat to the throne."

"Hey but everyone knows that you couldn't record videos back in the 1500s," Chocolove informed, "So how the heck could she get those videos?"

"Technology has been around long before humans discovered it," a voice said, the door to the office opened and you could see a beautiful a tan girl with blue eyes and long spiky-edged black hair, she wore a short smooth white leather dress that came down to about an inch above mid-thigh, she wore high moccasins that came about three inches over her knees, she wore two oversized silver bracelets, one on each wrist, a large red headband that was half covered by her hair and a red necklace around her neck, on her ears she had two large feather earrings, and in the middle of her dress was a picture of what seemed to be an alien. In her hands she carried Asakura Hana, the small Shaman Prince was asleep in her arms, so he would've never noticed his change in location.

"Ah! It's a…cutie!" Ryo exclaimed, his face turning a bright red and smoke coming out of his ears.

"Rutherfor!" Ohachiyo called out happily, appearing right beside of Manta, a hand up in the air as a gesture of greeting, "It's been three weeks, how've ya' been?"

"Rutherfor?" everyone, minus Sati, exclaimed.

Manta turned to his left, "But Ohachiyo, I thought Rutherfor was your Patch name, how can this girl also be-"

"He's my substitute," Rutherfor explained, "As the only female in the 10 Patch Priest I have more duties than the males, so Ohachiyo takes over my plant when I am gone or whenever he feels like it for that matter," she added, eyeing the demon with a certain look of annoyment.

Horo slammed his fist hard on the table, "Enough of this pointless shit," he yelled, he turned to the female Patch, "You, continue with what you were saying before. How the hell did Sati's ancestor get those videos when recording by video didn't exist back then?"

The girl looked at him blankly before taking a seat on the floor beside the door. "Believe it or not, shamans, but we've had visitors on our planet on countless occasions, there are signs everywhere. Their wisdom far surpasses that of humans, and they have intelligence and crafts that people couldn't dream of."

"I'm not buying it," Ren stated, "You're speaking of aliens are you not? There is not proof that any of those exists."

"Fufufu, on the contrary, Tao Ren," Ohachiyo laughed, "'He' is proof that they do exist."

"He?" Horo echoed in question.

Suddenly Matamune appeared on Manta's right side, chewing on the pipe in his mouth, "He speaks of Rutherfor's spirit, 'Grey Saucer'."

Rutherfor nodded, "It happened far before the first Shaman Fight…everything started when a UFO crashed near our village. The unknown creature came out dying…but he survived thanks to out shamans' medical treatments. Soon he got used to people and became friends with everyone. Before he died at the natural age of 100, he taught us many thinks that we consider our 'Traditional Patch Art', such as the oracle bell. But the person who he taught the most to was the Shaman Priestess." She stopped and her blue eyes drifted over to where the maiden sat beside Lyserg; Jeanne, noticing her stare, did not respond in any way.

"An alien a natural death…" Chocolove thought aloud, being ignored by everyone.

"But what was that alien doing on Earth…!" Lyserg wanted to know, practically sitting at the edge of the couch, eagerly wanting to know more.

"Investigating," Matamune said curtly.

"You 'intelligent beings' progress because you are constantly aiming at something," Ohachiyo added calmly, "But if you don't control your need to know, one day your wisdom will cause problems for you."

Rutherfor nodded curtly in agreement, "The heart. It doesn't matter how many techniques you know, there's no way to investigate your heart if you don't erase the sadness and pain caused by your wisdom." She added, "That's your phrase of the day."

Everyone sweat dropped.

"Back to our previous business, arigatou for bringing the Shaman Prince, Rutherfor," –the girl nodded- "Continuing on, this recording of the events of the Shaman Fight came from one of those 'advance inventions' it came from the first robot boy, named Ultimo, he was Annaka-san's best friend before she ever interacted with anyone. But I'd rather not spoil the story for you, but I wish for you all to see for yourself."

"This is the recording of the Shaman Fight that occurred 500 years ago, in other words…it is also the past of Hao and Annaka-san."

****

_**SHAMAN FIGHT, YEAR 1500**_

**Annaka's P.O.V.**

"Alright you two, this test is a written exam, the rules our on your desks and in a minute I'll hand out the exam." _'How is it that I am stuck in this rotten job, all the other teachers went home, but no, I had to stay and supervise these two know-it-alls. Well at least Kyoyama-san is pretty, I'll just stare at her to get my mind off things, but Asakura looks like he could kill someone, what happened to that lazy, kind appearance-"_

I turned off my mind reading on Sensei, it wasn't out of courtesy, it was out of annoyment. Humans and their disturbing thoughts…

Though my husband, on the other hand, didn't have a choice when it came to mind reading, how horrid. I didn't even want to know what he was thinking of at the moment, but I was sure it was either about burning Sensei to ashes right know or he was thinking of what I told him last night.

It's hard on me as well, who ever heard of a woman giving birth after 3 weeks of pregnancy? Why was it that all these things happen to me? Was it because I was cursed due to my sins? Whatever it was, I wanted it to stop.

Sensei gave me my exam, I hid my face behind my hair to avoid him thinking anymore thoughts of me, because I was sure that Hao was reaching his limit with him. My eyes were hurting greatly at the moment, oversouling your eyes a different color for school hours was a great pain, but I really just wanted to get this exam over with.

I picked up the booklet, for a graduation exam it was rather light…too light. I opened it up to see that it only had one page, I raised a brow and looked over at Hao, he looked rather bored as he read over the question, then both his eyes raised in question. I looked over my own exam and read the exam question.

**Write a fictional story that takes place in the 1500s, do not make it an ordinary story make it entertaining and so puzzling that it makes the reader think and feel as the characters do.**

I looked back over at Hao, who was resting his head on his palm, a smirk creeping up his face as he looked right at me, I was curious to know why he had that smirk so I decided to check his mind.

He was thinking of the time we first slept together, 500 years ago…

I felt the heat rush to my head and I could hear Hao let out a small chuckle, I narrowed my eyes at him, _'Hentai,'_I told him through my head, he just widened his smirk and responded through his head, _'Love you too,'_.

I turned my head away from his gaze, looking back down at paper, I would kill him later, but this exam had to be finished before I could kill him in any way. But the hentai of a husband's perverted flashback of the past gave me my topic. I realized that was the purpose of this whole thing, and Hao figured it out before I did, that flashback had been his way of telling me. Whoever set up this quiz…wanted to know of my past, my past with Hao, my past as a Shaman Queen, the dark story of the occurrences of the Shaman Fight 500 years ago. I turned to look at Hao once more, he had already begun writing, his topic the same as mine.

I turned back to my paper, and I began the unknown story that happened that half a century ago, I picked up my pencil and wrote the title, knowing the story was beginning…again. And then I began writing…

_**The heart. It doesn't matter how many techniques you know, there's no way to investigate your heart if you don't erase the sadness and pain caused by your wisdom…**_

**LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I BELIEVE THIS WAS THE BEST CHAPTER SO FAR, I AM PROUD WITH MYSELF. SORRY IT TAKES ME A WHILE BUT I BASICALLY REWRITE MY CHAPTERS AS I REREAD THEM SO…YEA…**

**OKAY THE NEXT FEW CHAPTER WILL HAVE**_**NO**___**Yoh/Anna, SORRY BUT TO UNDERSTAND THE THREAT THAT IS AFTER THE THRONE WE HAVE TO GO BACK TO ITS SOURCE THEREFORE, WE'RE GOING BACK IN TIME TO Hao/Annaka'S TIME. I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG THIS ARC WILL BE BUT I CALL IT THE "Hoshi No Kissu" ARC. ITS CHAPTERS WILL BE LABELED JUST HOW TAKEI LABELED HIS "Osorezan Revoir" ARC. I DO HOPE YOU ENJOY THESE NEXT CHAPTERS THOUGH.**

**HMMM ONLY 3 REVIEWS IN THE LAST CHAPTER…? I'M SADDENED. OH WELL I AT LEAST GIVE THANKS AND CREDITS TO:**

_Majrocks__-_ **(WHO'S NEW BUT****REVIEWED****, THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING)**

_Nightglider-_ **(WHO IS GOING TO PUNISH ME GREATLY IF I DON'T UPLOAD FASTER)**

_Hpcs2 - Suprema Onmyoji Isah-_ **(WHO IS TOTALLY AWESOME FOR REVIEWING****EVERY****CHAPTER, U GUYS SHOULD LEARN FROM HER)**

**NOW MY READERS I SHALL BEGIN WRITING THE "Hoshi No Kissu" ARC.**

**READ & REVIEW****PLEASE, I DON'T WANT TO BECOME ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO WON'T UPLOAD UNTIL THEY GET****AT LEAST****10 REVIEWS PER CHAPTER…**

**Crystel Hidalgo/YohAnna4eva**


	15. Hoshi no Kissu I

**Shaman King 300: Disaster of 500 Years;**

**Chapter 15: Hoshi no Kissu I**

**Annaka's P.O.V.**

The carriage was silent, although I was not the only one inside, three other people sat in the carriage with me, all four of us silent, letting only the wheels make the noises as they would often hit a rock here and there.

I let out a silent sigh, why was I here, on my way to some noisome and important ceremony? If there was any way to atone for my sins it would be to keep me locked up in my quarters such as they have been doing for the past 16 years of my life. The tedium was something I had gotten used to and now for the first time in my life I was being taken to a place that would be permeated with solace, the one thing I was never taught to deal with.

In all my life I could barely remember ever smiling, why? I was taught to be proper, stern, and emotionless, the destiny of my attitude and character was meant to be a neutral one, and at the moment, that was how I've been the past 16 years.

My gaze turned to the person who had given me my character, who formed me into what I was, my elder sister Joan, known as Joan D'Arc to humans, but to our tribe she was known as the Patch Priestess Joan. I haven't seen her in a few months, due to this being a great time for our tribe, but yet she is just as I last saw her. Silver hair that was barely an inch far off the ground, beautiful and radiant pale skin, deep ruby eyes, and a mien that made her appear much older than her true age, 18.

She looked over at me, her red eyes gazing at me in hidden concern, but she said nothing, because she knew that I was already inside her head. But at this very moment I was not, I was just blocking the gush of a river that were the thoughts of those around me, if I could help it I wouldn't invade the privacy of her head. Try as I may…I still knew.

Nee-san was irritated at letting her enemy go, one named Asakura Hao, who reincarnated from 500 years ago into our tribe. She had planned for her close friend, Nagehiko, to ambush him, but when he had returned from his ambush he was covered in scars and was almost half dead. This caused Nee-san to loathe Asakura even more than before, but she was quite suspicious of Nagehiko being alive, saying that if he lost to Hao than he should've been a burnt corpse.

This puzzle was what was filling my Nee-san's head to its limit. "Annaka," she called me, her voice its usual blank tone, her eyes staring right at me, her face not changing even the least bit of its mien, "art thou not worried of these events?" she asked me, "For long have we incarcerated thee in thou's desolate chamber," she reminded me.

I turned to look out the rectangular whole in the carriage, seeing my reflection in the glass that was placed upon it, upon seeing my roseate eyes I turned away from my duplicate in the glass, "The only thing that worries me," I began, "is me walking around with these wine orbs of mine, what will people say to such thing?"

She looked at my eyes, her mouth forming into a thin line, "You still blame me for it, don't you?" I didn't answer, because she already knew my answer.

Yes I did blame her for the bloody color of my eyes, if she wouldn't have done what she did then my eyes could be matching the smooth shining amber color of my hair. But I did have it coming…

I denied the ways of being Shaman Queen, I asked if I could live normally, when they denied then I ordered them to uncrown me queen; our tribe leader, Big Chief, was not please by this, he came into the king's thrown room, my room, yelling and cursing me from the top of his lungs. My way of responding was unforgivable, I attacked him, that was when I first realized my shamanic powers, and Nee-san came from behind and chanted a song, it took away my emotions, my childish attitude, and the color of my eyes, giving me this vile color of blood to remind me of my sin.

"I had no choice, Annaka," she said for the 72nd time in my life, "You were about to kill Big Chief, I had to do something…"

"So you rob me of my emotions?" I dully asked her, glaring at her, much to her dismay.

She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it as she felt Marcel fall on her lap, his body still in its deep slumber.

Marcel was a young child my sister found one day on one of her long trips, she doing some business in Italy when she found him, his house had been burnt down along with all of his family, only he was alive. She took him in, seeing as she was never going to have kids of her own. Though I found Marcel's appearance quite amusing, although he was a boy there was really no way of telling, unless you unclothed him to check. He had strange blonde hair that had two straight locks of hair in the front and then the rest would spike up in the back, his face had its feminine and boyish features here and there and the shining blue of his eyes didn't help his situation much. Nee-san would always dress him as a page, a large white shirt tied at the waist, and brown tights for the lower half of his body, plus brown leather shoes that Nee-san took from Nagehiko.

I continued my research of the outside world that I could see out the window, the place was truly amazing, it does not surprise me much, seeing as this hidden island was formed through me. I was getting bored of seeing nothing but the beautiful miles of green that spread throughout the island, but my view was caught when Ultimo decided to lift his head in my way to look out the window himself.

"Wow! Joou-sama, Joan-chan look! The place is all one color!" he excitedly informed us, his eyes glowing from the view.

Nee-san frowned at him, "What did I tell thee to call us by from now on?" she questioned him.

In an eighth of a second, Ultimo processed that question in his head, in another eighth of a second he gave her a response, "Joan, and Annaka-san," he responded quickly.

Ultimo had always amused me, that was basically his purpose to begin with, Nee-san made him so that I could have company in my solitary room, and he would always entertain me with fictional stories, though part of me pitied him. Ultimo was the first of his kind, the first ever robot boy in the sixteenth century, Nee-san made him to have the body of a thirteen year old and he would forever have that body. Whenever I would call him "Ultimo-nii-san," he would always shake his head and say, _"You can't call me that, Joou-sama, there will be a day when you'll be older than me and it wouldn't be proper to call me that."_

I would've cared less, but he begged me not to call him that, especially in front of Nee-san. But I wish that when Nee-san made Ultimo she could've made him look a bit more normal, if you had a good look at him you'd know what I mean. He had large unruly red hair, pale skin, and green eyes with a red center, I had gotten used to it because it seemed Nee-san liked boys with girlish appearances the best…

Right now we were all wearing our tribe's Patch Priests uniforms [minus Marcel], we use them to go out into public, but apparently we were wearing the men's uniforms. Nee-san prefers men clothing because it's less revealing than the Patch Priestesses women's clothing, I prefer the women's because it gives me more liberty to move around in.

"Hey we're here aren't we?!" Ultimo exclaimed in question, did I forget to mention that he acts like a child? "I can hear Arrison-chan's violin playing, we're hear aren't we?"

I moved his head out of the way so I could see out the window, and there I saw that we really were where we were supposed to be at, the carriage stopped with a bump, causing Marcel to roll off Nee-san's lap and fall onto the ground. "Itai…" he softly muttered as he stood from the ground, rubbing his back slowly.

Nee-san turned to Ultimo and I, "Put your hoods on," she ordered sternly, rising from her seat and opening the door, Ultimo put on his hood, following my example. We all got off the carriage and watched as it left, then we all entered the Patch café.

As we walked inside the place I heard so many noises in my head, arguing, cursing, thinking, planning, everything, so to avoid massive headaches, I just shut down all the thoughts, not allowing any but my own to enter. But even though in my head there was silence I began to hear a different sound, an instrumental sound, I forward to the center of the place and saw a small girl, with black hair that came down to her shoulder blades, she was a little dark in skin color but not enough to make her blend into night's cloak, but her eyes combined perfectly with the cloudless blue sky that we had today. In her hands she held a violin, which took up all the sound in the café and silenced everyone as she began playing "Granuaile's Dance" to entertain America's visitors.

"That's Arrison," Ultimo whispered, in a low voice, knowing that only I was able to hear him, "she is one of the two priestesses that were chosen to teach the future Ten Official's task in organizing the fight that will determine next Shaman King, because of that she is going to have to always attentively watch the Shaman Fight with Big Chief. Even though she's only 12 years old her height makes everyone think she's much older, but she and the other priestess are burden with that very important mission. Arrison-chan has the shamanic power to know how to use any instrument by just touching it, it could be a musical instrument or a war instrument, it wouldn't matter."

"That seems a power too dangerous for such a young girl," I added in my own opinion.

Ultimo just gave a boyish grin and shrugged, "Joan taught her well enough how to control it." My little robot boy contain a large database file as his memory, he contained all the information on the Patch, the Shaman Fight, and all the Shaman Fight participants, by just looking at them he could tell you all about them, this was a robotic talent the Big Chief enjoyed using.

I was about to turn to look at my sister until I heard the music slow down, at first I thought it was over but it was only the beat changing, soon enough I heard a second violin join in, I looked up and thought I was seeing double, but realized that it wasn't the same girl. This girl looked very similar to Arrison, except she had more of a hyper looking attitude, but her hair was also different, it was cropped and spiked outward at its ends and her skin tone was just a barely noticeable shade lighter than Arrison.

Ultimo looked to the source of the second instrument and smiled, his hood almost slipping off his head, "Ah! That's Arisu-chan! She's Arrison's younger twin!"

I stared at the girl, not helping but to notice that she had a bit more of a radiant beauty than her sister, but of course it was possible that only I would notice such things, "She's the other priestess?" I asked him, raising a brow, wondering how Big Chief would allow such an energetic looking girl to be one to teach the future Ten Officials.

He nodded, "Yes, though she has a much better shamanic power…"

I felt my brows rise as I got his answer from his thoughts, "She can see the future?"

He nodded once more, "Besides you, they are the only members of the tribe with a shamanic power…well unless you count…'him.'"

I knew exactly who 'him' was, and really didn't want to meet him today, or any day for that matter; though I always wondered…what kind of chaos would two Reishi-skilled shamans do?

"Joan-sama," Marcel called in his soft voice as we were entering into the worker's area. We were greeted by nine Patch Officials as we walked in, my mind wondering where the tenth official was at.

Nee-san looked down at Marcel, who was now tugging at her skirt, "What is it, Marcel?" she asked when she finished greeting everyone.

Marcel's tiny finger pointed out the big rectangular hole in the wall that allowed to workers to see their customers; I looked over and saw that his finger was pointing towards a table with a green haired boy, in clothing similar to Marcel's the only difference was that the green haired boy's shirt was a royal blue, and his tights were grey.

I raised a brow as I eyed the boy, Ultimo appeared right beside of me, his elbows resting on the counter, his head resting on his palms, "Lysander Diethyl," he said curtly, then he went on with the information, "Age 18, British, family died when he was 16, humans burned his house down with his family inside, he is the last of his family but he changed his last name so he could let go of his past. His spirit is a poppy spirit, a pink fairy named Morphine, she was a gift from Joan when she revived him two years ago."

Something hit Ultimo hard on the head, I turned and saw that Nee-san's spirit, Shamash, had hit him in the head with a large hammer, Nee-san glared at Ultimo, "Do not speak of that again," she ordered in a grave tone. She turned to me, her eyes now with hidden worry, "Forget what he said," she told me, before she turned around and left.

I let out a long sigh, I was becoming very bored, I was thinking of entering this Diethyl boy's head to entertain myself until I saw spinning figure out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw Arisu spinning with a plate in her hands, she was so graceful and impossibly beautiful when she ran, to me she did not appear to be the child that she was. Her hair was blown off her face exposing the perfect features of her visage, why was it that there were some people that possessed certain beauty that could stun anyone? What got me the most was that this girl had a twin, and though they looked much alike, it was this energetic one with the look?

I was so lost in my own question that I didn't see when the plate slipped from Arisu's fingers. I only heard the _whoosh _of the air whistling past the crystal, and mine and Ultimo's eyes flickered up in time to see the plate shatter into ten thousand diamond shards against the hard wooden floor. All eyes fell on the girl's back, Arrison looked at her younger copy and extended a hand out to touch her, "Arisu?" she called questionably.

Then Arisu was facing us, twisting in a move so fast it didn't exist, I looked at her eyes, her eyes were halfway here and halfway somewhere else, wide, staring, filling her thin face till it seemed to overflow it. It was like looking out of a grave from the outside, I was so shocked by the girl's action that it never occurred to me to search her mind for an answer.

The pixie-like girl looked out the rectangular whole, then she turned around and in one quick movement, I giant blur of white appeared and caused her to disappear, I blinked, as so did everyone of the Patch Officials. Arrison let out a sigh, "She did it again…" she muttered under her breath. I jerked my head over to the long haired twin, she looked at the ground.

"Did what again?" I asked, the tone of my voice seemed a little too sharp, possibly making it seem as if she didn't have a choice but to answer.

Arrison raised her head up at me, for the first time I saw an emotion on her face other than just a blank stare, I saw worry in her eyes, those blue eyes stared at me for a moment, then the went down to the ground, "I don't know really how to explain this…" she said, _'To say the truth I don't know what's going on…'_

"She's been having reoccurring visions, she's been seeing the same one for some time now," a voice said. Arrison raised her head in shock at Nagehiko, who just seemed to ignore her look and went on, "her visions have been disturbing her and every once in a while she goes off to see if they have occurred."

I was amazed at how much this boy knew, he knew tons more than Arrison on her own sister, something that really didn't seem right; my head turned to the girl, and curiosity took over me. I have never been around people so much so I never knew about the problems that others had other than mine or Nee-san's, but by entering Arrison's head I found out a lot.

The twins were very distant from one another; it seemed that when their abilities were discovered they were separated, Arrison was sent to Ireland to learn to control her ability with the Official that lived there. Although the Official in Ireland knew plenty to help Arrison, she didn't want help, she wanted to cope on her own, in the end the only thing the Official was able to teach her to use right was musical instruments because after her first try using a weapon, she killed a few people, leading her never to touch a weapon ever again. When she returned to the tribe she found out that they never made Arisu move to another place, Arisu was told to stay with the tribe seeing as her ability wasn't as dangerous as Arrison's. That caused the biggest separation between her and her twin, she thought that Arisu's life had been easy and she believed that to be unfair, so she never became interested in her sister because of that.

Nagehiko seemed to know all of this, because his next comment made me aware of it, "Some elder sister you turned out to be, Arrison," he scoffed softly under his breath, but yet the girl heard it; she jerked her head and in less than a minute she grabbed the closest thing to her (which turned out to be a v-shaped, stainless steel, French knife) and threw it at him, the knife stuck to the wall, exactly 1.2 inches to the left of his face.

"I dare you to say it again," she threatened, grabbing another knife by its bolster, and getting it ready for another launch.

It was the first time that I actually took a notice to the girl's accent and realized that it did sound a bit more Irish, her pronunciation was peculiar but it was there.

"That's enough out of both of thee!!" Nee-san interfered, snapping her fingers and in one quick move the metal blade of the knife in Arrison's hand melted into a pool of silver.

I wasn't impressed, to be honest, Shamash was able to make any torture chamber appear with just a small use of metal, so with Nee-san's mechanical genius they could practically control metal to their liking. This was the first time, however, that Ultimo had seen such a thing.

And fear stroke through him like lightning strikes through the sky on a stormy day, he hid under the counter, shaking his metal butt off. Nee-san looked at him and sighed, she had frightened her own creation. She turned to me, and handed me a bag of clothing, _'Take Ultimo out for a walk, I'll give you time to get to know the island a bit more, just go out the back door got it?'_

I nodded and took the bag, then I grabbed Ultimo by the neck of his uniform, I took a step forward until Nee-san had to give me one more instruction, _'One more thing, don't kill anybody…'_

I looked at her as if she was crazy, she just turned her face away from my view, I let out a sigh, not knowing why she was telling me this in the first place, "Fine," I said before dragging Ultimo into another room and throwing his bag of clothes in his face.

"That's mean, joou-sama," he whined, I just turned my back on him and went into another room and began vacating my uniform, I looked at the clothing Nee-san gave me. There was a short above mid-thigh black leathered dress fringed an inch towards the bottom, tall brown moccasins that were also fringed at the top, and to cover me up was a shining brown cloak made of fine material. I placed my arms through the sleeves of the cloak and pinned the sides of it with what seemed to be an oval shaped silver pin.

When I came out Ultimo was already dress, he looked at me with his childish eyes, I just put my old clothes on the ground, "Let's go, Nee-san ordered me to take you for a walk," I explained.

He crossed his arms and gave me a frown, "I'm not an animal," he protested.

"Either way," I walked on, "I want to look around." I headed out the back door, and the minute I came out I could sense so many high levels of furyoku and it bothered me, all these people were going to try to become Shaman King or die trying, it was like a large pointless war to get an unknown power.

"Oh, I see!" the redheaded robot said, peeking around me to look at the many shamans that stood all over the place as we walked by every one, "We're going to spy on all of your suitors, right?!"

I felt a vein pop on my temple, "My suitors?" I repeated through gritted teeth, clenching my hands into fits, "Don't ever call them that!" I ordered, punching him on the top of his head.

"Itai!" he whined, covering his head with both of his tiny hands, "But Joou-sama, whoever wins will become your husband so it's right to call them your…"

The look on my face silenced him, I could basically feel a dark purple aura forming around me as my temper reached its limits, "You have till the count of ten, Ultimo," I informed him, "1…"

The robot redhead got up off the floor his eyes wide and scared, he swirled around and ran, but no matter how long or far he would travel I would easily catch up. "2…10!" I shouted running after him.

I have always been locked up in the same room as the Great Spirit, I never knew what it was like to run for a long time, but Nee-san would always come into my room telling me how tried she was by running all around a place just to search for her enemy. As a child I would run around Great Spirit in circles, or run up and down the stairs as a child, but this island was much more alive than I'd ever expected.

I kept waiting to feel winded, but my breath came effortlessly. I waited for the burn to begin in my muscles, but my strength only seemed to increase as I grew accustomed to my stride. After only a few minutes, possibly only two, I had already caught sight of my mechanical friend, he looked back and his green eyes grew wide, his red pupils dilating in fear.

I smirked, and he turned his head back to look ahead, then before I knew it, he was gone.

I stopped dead in tracks, my feet planted in the dirt, I looked around but I didn't see him anywhere. Then I heard a _thud_ and looked forward to see him on the other side of a river. I raised a brow at him, "Coward," I muttered under my breath.

Call me crazy but I was going to go after him, I took two quick backward strides, and then ran back those two steps, feeling a firm flat stone under my shoes before I exerted the adequate pressure to send my body wheeling up into the air. Before I knew it an entire second had passed and I was already on the other side of the river, but a landed twice as far away as Ultimo did, how do I know that? I heard his invisible voice far away from my current position.

"Joou-sama!" he shouted in worry, and I heard him coming my way.

I tried to move but I could feel my foot starting to fall asleep, I sighed, it must've been the impact of my landing. Irritably, I shook my left foot, trying to awaken it from its pointless slumber, but when I did I realized that I was standing on an elevated muddy hill, my right sole gave way and I crashed down to the ground. A sudden sharp pain went through my leg, it stung my leg as if a snake had bitten it or as if a carriage made of stone had run over it.

I heard Ultimo's footsteps approaching me, followed by his childish screams of worry, "Joou-sama!" he yelled, his eyes landed on my leg and his eyes grew, "Ah! Joou-sama! You're hurt! What should I do?! What should I do?!" the idiot began running in circles as if he were a while maniac on the lose, then he realized running in circles wasn't going to help me and he began making his way over to me.

"Stay there!" I ordered. "Don't you dare come over here!" the last thing I needed was a robot's helpless pity.

"B-But Joou-sama-" he protested before I cut him off.

"I can manage!" I shouted, "If you want to help then run back and get Nee-san," he hesitated, "NOW!" I shouted at him.

When I saw him out of my sight I tried standing up, but the effort was useless and I came collapsing back down to the mire, clutching my right leg tighter than I had before. My leg was either two things, broken or sprained, nothing I couldn't heal right up. Part of me began to wonder why I ordered Ultimo to leave in the first place. He already knew of my ability to heal myself and anyone I wished so why did I…?

Oh right, Ultimo was too panicky when it came to these things, he would give me a long lecture later on how I shouldn't do dangerous things. The idiot acted as if he was still older than me, although I became older than him 3 years ago.

I shook my head, I could think of my overprotective brother-like robot some other time, right now I just had to heal my dang leg.

I place my other hand on my leg and was about to flood it in furyoku to replace my damaged bones, but then there was a large snarl heard only a few feet away from me. There was a harsh breath that escaped the mouth of something, and I felt that breath hit me as if the wind was blowing in my face. Large footsteps were heard echoing throughout the forest, there was a much different, rough, throaty growl about two feet in front of me then I heard a high musical voice speak, its words directed at me.

"You kept me waiting a long time," the musical voice spoke.

I looked up and the first thing I saw were two large, hairy, white legs, with enormous paws. I looked higher up and saw a large, and I mean large, polar bear wearing a golden armor on its knees, chest, back, and around its head as well. My brows shot up, but my face didn't make any other movements. The sunlight was hitting the armor in a perfect position, so perfect that it could've blinded anyone else if they looked at it. There was movement on the bear's back and as I blinked I saw a small body come down. The figure stood and I instantly recognized her face features, it was the young pixie-like girl I had saw only moments ago, Arisu.

"Nani?" I asked, responding to her question, heaven knows why I responded to her in Japanese, was it because of her clothing that wasn't the same as I had seen it before?

Arisu winced at the sound of my voice, I raised a brow, opening my head to allow myself to listen to the girl's thoughts, _'Her voice…'_ she awed inside her head, _'it's like her voice rings and shimmers like a bell…' _Her face suddenly became more curious, and she came more closer to me, bending down to my level. As she did this, the light that reflected out of the giant bear's armor shone right into my face; it didn't affect me much, but I could see the girl squinting through the light at my face, her eyes widened and I heard her gasp.

"How strange," she whispered to herself, "my vision never showed you being so pretty…" she zoned out for a minute then added some random comment, "But it's quite chilly, even more so for you, don't you think?" she added with a gentle smile, then she looked at my leg, noticing that both my hands were tightly grasping it. "Oh? Did you hurt yourself?" she asked, tilting her head to get a good view of my leg.

"I'm not hurt," I protested…and lied, trying to force myself to stand up, in the end I did, but not without feeling a sharp stab of pain in my right leg, yet I tried to hold it in.

"My oni-chan would be impressed by your spirit," Arisu said, with a gentle pixie smile on her face. "Pretending that you are capable when you're not…but I'm curious…who exactly are you?" she asked

"That's my personal secret." I snapped, although I didn't mean to.

But my temper didn't seem to affect her much, she just tilted her head, her thoughts going on and on about how gorgeous she found me, "I see," the girl responded, _'that's the only thing I can see.'_ The pixie girl mentally analyzed. _'I can't see your future, your actions, anything.'_

I stayed silent, letting her ponder in her own thoughts, then she turned to me and smiled, "Come with me," she happily told me, _'Onii-chan might like you…'_

I didn't bother to fill my heads with trivial things as to who her Onii-chan was, as far as Ultimo informed me Arisu only had her twin…oh shoot Ultimo! I forgot he went to go call Nee-san! I was about to turn to the pixie-like girl and protest, telling her I had to head back or something, but a large paw grabbed me and placed me on its owners large back.

Being seated on the bear's back I realized I sensed a large amount of reiryoku escaping from it, meaning this bear wasn't alive, it was a spirit. Furyoku practically filled its armor to the touch, it was amazing that such a young child could have such a high level of furyoku to oversoul this large bear.

Arisu jumped up and climbed the bear's armor, then she seated herself in front of me, the large bear began to move and headed in the opposite way I came, "Where are we going?" I asked, figuring it was the most normal thing to ask in this sort of situation.

She turned her back to look at me, giving me a smile that literally let out a rainbow went the sun hit her perfectly white teeth, "You'll see," she said before turning to the large body of white fluff, "Let's go, Hoshi."

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Ultimo ran as fast as he could, he would've have flown, if he wasn't trying to appear as human as possible. Of course, when you considered at how fast he was running, one thing you couldn't call him was human. He was trying his best to find Joan the fastest he could, but the truth was that he wasn't watching where he was going, he stopped when he realized this and looked around, the land was unfamiliar to him. "Oh non…" he said in his sad childish French, "how in the world did I get lost? Joou-sama is going to really undo my circuts…" he let out a sigh and slowly began walking.

"Are you lost Kawaiko-chan?" a voice asked from behind him.

Curiously he turned around and saw that suddenly he was surrounded, by weird looking people with a piece of paper hanging from their hats. There was an opening amongst the strange looking men, and in that opening Ultimo saw a girl passing by the men.

The girl was gorgeous. She wore a black Chinese _ruqun _with its cuffs and sleeves on the upper garment tighter than usual _ruquns,_ the clothing had a collar that went diagonally over the other half, its long skirt was grey and was held in place by a jade ornament tied on a braid, and on top of it all was a dark purple waist skirt held together by a grey sash.

In her hands were many slips of paper held together in her hand as if they were forming a fan. The slips of paper hid the lower half of the girl's face, but you could see a pair of green eyes, that matched her hair. Her hair was another thing, it was piled up in a bun at the back with two locks of hair on each side of her face, there were two large oval clips that dug into the sides of her head, her eyes smiled at him.

"Well are you Kawaiko-chan?" she said, her voice stating her young age. All Ultimo could do was nod, this girl…she was…

The green haired Chinese girl lowered her fan-like paper talismans and looked Ultimo in the eyes, she raised a brow as she looked at all his features, "You're…beautiful…" she awed. The robot boy blushed, but he kept his face completely blank. The girl cupped his cheek with her small hand and moved his head from left to right, examining every aspect of his face, when she finished she smiled, "You do seem worthy of my presence," she informed him, "You're an interesting toy," she added.

'_Toy?!' _he was about to open his mouth in protest but she placed a finger on his cold lips, "Don't try to prove me wrong," she told him, "I know a toy when I see one, you're no human…nor shaman…have you lost someone?"

Ultimo nodded, "Oui, I lost my mistress. She got injured and I went to go find help so-"

She raised her hand to tell him to stop, she smirked and her eyes pointed to a carriage behind her, "I'll help you, my oni-chan won't mind one bit."

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If normal people were walking on foot it would've taken them at least an hour to reach where this girl was taking me, but it took this giant bear only a couple of minutes to reach the place, it literally pranced its way to our location, jumping over trees and people.

We reached a small part in the woods, well it seemed small while we were in mid air, _Hoshi_ came slamming down to the ground, but the only noise made was a soft _thump_ on the ground. After that he began walking normally, I saw Arisu reach behind her to grab her hood and place it over her head, I did the same, if Nee-san saw me like this I'd have to put up with a lecture later.

We passed many people, no scratch that, we passed many shamans. I could feel their furyoku as we passed by them, 78000, 400, 46232… I could not only feel their furyoku as I passed by them, but I could also here their thoughts, much to my dismay.

I felt a bit off, uncomfortable was the word, I was someone who invaded people's privacy by accident, I pitied myself sometimes. But these lowlife shamans were the reason to much of my botherations, if they didn't participate in this worthless fight then I wouldn't have ever been locked up for 16 years, I wouldn't have been robbed of my emotions, I could've been considered normal. But this happens to an unlucky blonde Patch girl every 500 years, how did the heck did they put up with it, with all this!?

I'll give you an example of what I have to put with. A few feet ahead in distance there was a group of men, well they seemed to be around the age of 19 to 23, they stood in a corner looking at all the women and ladies that would pass by. This would be the thoughts of one of them:

'_All these women are nothing but medlar fruit, and I will be the poperin pear that shall accompany them all in there lonely tree.'_

Another one would say, _'When I become Shaman King all these women will no longer fall on their faces, as they did when they were kids, but instead they will fall on their backs for me!'_

Must I continue? I was lucky to have the ability to block these noisome and disturbing voices.

We passed these loathe-able men and made our way forward, in time I saw Arisu jump down from Hoshi's large back, I looked down and saw her run forward towards a large boulder, her spirit following right behind her, still carrying me with him. I was surprised at how graceful the girl could run, I was certain that I ran nothing like that, people would pass her and greet her, a woman with beautiful sandy brown hair stopped in front of her and Arisu just twirled around her, the woman turned around and gave her a smile, "Konnichiwa, _pequeña_ Arisu," the woman said with a thick Spanish accent.

Arisu smiled, "Konnichiwa Savana, have you seen Nii-sama?" she asked, jumping up and down.

Savana looked up thoughtfully, "_Tu hermano_?" she asked thoughtfully, then she realized something, "Oh! You mean _El Señor! _Yes he is over at the big rock!" she pointed a bit further up ahead.

Arisu grinned thankfully, "Arigatou Savana!" she twirling around once more then she stopped as something occurred to her, "Ano…Savana?"

"Si?"

Arisu turned around worriedly, her blue eyes troubled, "Please, be careful," she said before turning around and pulling me and the spirit along with her. We got to the boulder and stopped, then I heard

Arisu's loud-high pitch voice call out a name, "Hao-Nii-sama!!!"

My eyes widened under my hood. I heard a chuckle amongst the trees, then I heard a smooth amazingly perfect voice, "Where'd you run off to, Ari?" he asked, "Oh, you brought a friend?"

"A friend?" someone hissed, a woman.

"Yup, I did! And she's really pretty," Arisu added, emphasizing on the word "really".

I heard laughter, "Really?"

I pulled myself to the highest part of "Hoshi's" body, trying to get a better view of what was going on behind that rock. I saw the pixie girl wrapping her arms around her head, frowning at someone in front of her, "You're not going to cheat, Hao-Nii-sama! She's hurt and you're going to heal her."

"Just bring her, Arisu," a dull male voice ordered, "I can smell her from here, so it's possible she's listening."

"Fine!"

I braced myself for the girl's next actions, "HOSHI!" she called, causing the bear to leap over the boulder, the pain in my leg increased as we came crashing down to the ground, my leg hit hard against the golden armor, but I was able to keep myself from screaming in pain. I saw the bear's large jaw reach behind me, he grabbed me with his jaw and pulled me my clothing, bringing me down to the ground softer than I expected.

I looked up, glad to still feeling my hood on my head, my eyes grew at seeing the people that sat there in front of me. They were…like nothing I've ever seen before….were all shamans good looking or just the ones I meet?

There was a wine haired colored girl, her hair was a beautiful mess of red curls, her eyes match the color of the trees that surrounded her, and her figure could possibly make any man weak in the knees, her eyes showed me she was Chinese and her mien seemed as if it could kill you, but yet it seemed to match her well enough. _'Hmm, is it possible she could be that pretty?' _I heard her ask in her head. Funny,

I was wondering the same thing about her.

There was also a boy with some unruly dirty blonde hair, his eyes were a greenish-blue, the blue dominating the green, he was shirtless, his skin a pale-like color, and wore some Native America-like brown leather pants with fringes on the sides, I looked and noticed that he was tall and lean, his arms were muscular alright, but he had a few faint scars. His mien matched him perfectly as well, it was a blank one, one that seemed dull and bored, his thoughts on the other hand were very much alive, _'I smell leather under the fineness of her cloak, her heartbeat is normal so there is no fear or shock…' _hmm a man of instinct, eh? I guess if you would ever find a wild man, he would be the man you would want to find, my guess was that he was raised this way…

The one girl that caught my eye the most was a very pale girl with long waist-length pink hair that matched the color of her deep eyes. The only think that I found strange was that although she seemed my age, her face showed signs of yearly knowledge, possibly things that I've known, her face a stern, stern and angered, but that didn't contrast against her. She wore a thin light pink hakama the long waist skirt that went over it was a red. She was stunning, and I was in shock.

But I froze when I saw the man who sat above the rest one that giant rock in front, he was…handsome. My heart stopped with just one look at him, his skin seemed perfect not a flaw or a scratch, his long brown hair shone brightly with the sunlight it projected, his eyes matched his hair in color, but those eyes showed something I've never seen before in a man, they were gentle but at the same hard, warm but seemed to get cool with time, that pair of eyes showed more oxymorons than I could even think of. He was wearing a faint grey hakama, but even the color seemed to go with his peculiar appearance.

But as I stared at this man the wind wanted me dead, it blew a large gush of wind in my direction, and before I could or even thought of stopping it, it blew my hood right off my head, my long hair blew out from under my cloak and now hung from the sides of my face, the wind had revealed my face while the one thing that used to hide it now hung from my shoulders.

There reactions to my visage were like nothing I expected…

The wined hair Chinese girl dropped her mouth into a small "o", her eyes kept on examining me up and down to make sure I was real.

The unruly haired blond widened his eyes, his shoulder relaxing, for thought that I had something to hid, but my face made him try to restraint a whistle.

The pink haired girl was another story, at first her eyes widened, the they narrowed into a deadly expression one that made me believe that at any moment she would jump out and eat me alive. In her hands she had been working with clay, it was a smooth vase, but when her eyes narrowed themselves at me, she crushed the vase in her hand, the clay piece was now mush.

I turned to look at Arisu, who gave me that stunning smile that I still found unbelievable for a child to behold, "Told you you're pretty," she said in a low voice under her breath, part of me wanted to believe that I wasn't supposed to hear that, but yet I did.

The pixie girl began twirling towards the group of stunning shamans on the rock, then she stopped when she was directly in front of the brunette, "Hao-Nii-sama," she said in a singsong voice, pulling on the arm of the brunette, "well?"

Asakura Hao, who'd never once looked at me before, turned his head to view me, he squinted through the sunlight at my face, and then his eyes widened. He swallowed, and I heard his heart accelerate, something I didn't hear the blonde's heart do. He was both dazzled and dazzling, he was dazzled by me, and dazzling me.

I was a little worried that my heart would fail me, but I knew my face wouldn't, I owned no other emotion other than the one that was already on my face. And through his eyes I could see that my face was still stern.

Asakura Hao stared at me for what seem like ages but it was only for about five seconds before he blinked and turned his face away from mine, and I was glad he did, I was stunned by the way he looked at me with those eyes. I saw him shake his head real fast, to fast for anyone else to notice, my gaze wandered over to Arisu, who just looked at me and smiled.

What was this girl's purpose in bringing me here?

I was about to enter her mind till I saw Asakura jump from the boulder and walk over to me, he bended down, his eyes now at the level of mine, his lips curves into a lazy smile, "And you are?" he asked kindly.

"That's my business," I snapped. Handsome or not, this was the man Nee-san loathed with a passion, the man she would fight till her death.

He chuckled, seeming amuse of my attitude, this irritated me a bit. "I enjoy your compliment," he said, his smile turning into a smirk, "would you at least tell me who your Nee-san is? You know the one that hates me with a passion."

My brows shot up as I remembered what Ultimo told me about Asakura Hao, about his Reishi. My lips purse themselves together into a smirk, "I'd rather keep my thoughts to myself, thank you," I coolly snapped.

He chuckled once more, and I used this time to instinctively block my head from his ability. Hao turned to Arisu and smiled at her, "You were right Ari," he mused, "I _am _impressed by her spirit," he turned to me and brought his lips closer to my ear, "I'm also impressed in the way you are able to block your thoughts from me, but I'll keep that to myself."

He pulled his face away slowly than he looked at my leg, "You hurt yourself? That seems pretty stupid." I glared at him, and he just smiled back, "Where does it hurt?" he asked pulling down the moccasin on my leg. My blood suddenly heated up as he touch my leg, his fingers gently pocking random spots on my leg, he touched the place where I had injured myself, a sharp pain went through my leg and I jumped slightly in pain. He raised a brow, "I'm guessing that's the spot," he said.

"You have the audacity to touch me so intimately," I mocked, "and a stranger at that." Part of me was a little flattered at the way a tint of pink came about his cheeks as I said this.

His hand paused it its position. "How can you think of such things when you have an injury?"

"That would be my problem, not yours."

"Right, right." He chuckled. "You're not very nice."

"No, I'm not," I admitted. That much he had guessed right. I wasn't nice, I've never been nice since that say, I couldn't even smile or be grateful even if my life depended on it.

He smiled once more before going back to his work, and soon I felt my leg bone come back together, it was a strange feeling, due to me never having to heal myself before. In just seconds my leg no longer had that sharp pain that had become troublesome and bothersome. He stood up and looked at me once more, "Get some fluids and rest immediately," he instructed. "I'll be back to check on you later."

He turned around and stopped in front of the redhead and pink haired girls, "Get her to a room," he ordered, "I have some errands I have to attend to." He snapped his fingers and disappeared under a large flame of fire.

"My pleasure Hao-sama," the redhead said.

The pink haired glared at me, "It wont be my pleasure," I heard her mutter under her breath.

-----------------

I opened my eyes and gazed up at the ceiling that was over me, when did I fall asleep? I sat up and look at my surroundings, I was in a normal washitsu room may of wood and paper, fusumas separating this room from all others, under my use to be lying body was a futon on top of the tatami flooring. When _did _I fall asleep?

I stood up and dusted off my clothing, using my hand to straighten them out, my tall moccasins were over by the door, I took a few steps and saw my cloak neatly folded beside my moccasins.

As I placed all of this back on me I heard voices, and it was the first time I realized that one of the doors was not a fusuma but a shoji, my feet moved closer to where the light passed right through the thin papered door, and the voices grew louder as I got closer.

One of the voices, as far as I could tell, belonged to Asakura Hao, the other sounded that of a girl, my age possibly, but I couldn't tell, all I could hear was their conversation.

"According to Ari she brought a pretty girl today," the girl said, starting a whole new conversation with the brunette.

"She told you about that, huh?" I heard Hao respond, with a bit of humor.

"That's all she talks about today, well is she pretty?"

There was a long pause as he thought of how to respond, I wanted to so badly see his expression, but when I tried to look through the mind of the girl all I saw was black, a world of darkness and nothing more, something I never encountered before. But as went inside her head I could do something else. I felt Asakura's tension and hesitation as he tried to find a way to answer, I could hear his heart accelerating as he thought of his answer. But how in the world could I do this when I was who knows how many feet away? I couldn't see him through the girl's head but I could feel and hear everything else. The thought occurred to me, it was possible that…this girl was blind.

"I think…that pretty is too much of an understatement," he responded to her, a bit of seriousness hear in his tone.

"What does she look like?"

"She looks like a combination between you and…my mother…"

I raised a brow. His mother better be pretty if he is going to compare me to her. Though part of me felt a little…flattered, when it came to me he found pretty being an understatement…not something I've heard before. Though part of me felt a bit…sorry, for anyone to be compared to me at all is…uncalled for. I've never thought myself to be considered greater than pretty. As a child I use to look at myself in the mirror and my first reaction was an unthinkable pleasure, I would look at my flawless face, whose peach color would usually pass as a fruit burning in a part of golden locks of hair that greatly resembled the sun. then my reaction would turn to horror. _Who was she?_ I would ask constantly to myself, knowing that normal people didn't look like me. Normal people didn't have as flawless of skin, or hair that reflected and stole the color of the sun, normal people didn't have crimson eyes that I did. Normal people didn't look like me. So to here someone say that, hmmp I was surprised.

"Your mother…that can't be good," the girl analyzed.

Hao laughed, "Why do you say that?"

There was another pause, but this one wasn't as long as the first one, "Because if she looks like your mother than you wouldn't try to start a relationship with her. You'll be too caught up in the past, and your rage will come to you once more."

"………"

"Well?"

"What do you want me to say?" he asked in a now irritated tone of voice.

"You're not even going to try are you?"

"I don't know."

"Coward."

"H-"

"Hao-Nii-sama!"

I blinked, I recognized that high pitch musical voice, I slightly opened the shoji about an inch, making sure I could at least see something. To my left I could see Hao facing in my direction, and the girl that I heard before had her back to me, all I could see was a windmill printed orange yukata and some short inch-passed-shoulder length hair that matched Asakura's. Then to my right I could see Arisu running up towards where they sat, "Hao-Nii-sama," she called gasping for breath as she came, "Savana is-is, I saw her go into an alley and-and-"

"She's dead." I jerked my head over to the brown haired girl, she had her head lowered as she spoke, "Her spirit just left this world."

I watched Asakura Hao's expression as this was said to him, he looked up and saw that Arisu was looking at him with patientless eyes. "Another one, huh?" he said as this pondered him.

I blinked, another one? How many people have been killed? Were they all Asakura Hao's allies? Or just this one?

"Is that all you can say!?" the pixie shouted, her blue eyes wide with sudden anger. "Do you know how many of our allies have died now, Nii-sama?!"

"Yes I do," he responded calmly, his face matching his tone perfectly as he responded, "What do you expect me to do? In your vision you never saw who killed her, or where they killed her. You just saw her dead in an alley, how many alleys do you think there are around here, Ari?" a smirk crept up his face as he closed his eyes, "But if it pleases you, then I could simply set all the alleys on fire, that way we'll know they're dead," –He opened an eye- "Would you rather me do that?" he asked, raising a perfect brown brow.

I raised my own brow; did he really believe that was reasonable?

"B-but-"

"A good girl knows when to be silent, Ari," the brown haired girl told her in a grave tone, "now's a good time to be silent." The pixie pouted childishly and looked down at her hands, in her tiny hands I could see her messing around with something shiny, something that seemed to be made of gold, barely the size of her hand, she fumbled around with it for a while until I saw her hand suddenly release it. I blinked as I saw the object fall to the ground, the shining object fell as if it were a déjà vu in my head. I looked up and saw those same blank and lost eyes, but this time I took no time to hesitate and enter the girl's head, so I could now see the same vision as her.

_was a dark room, with only a large candle that lit the center of the room, in the middle of the room was a table made of rock and on that rock was a boy with unruly red hair, his stomach was opened but you couldn't see blood, all you could see were wire, many, many wires. His previously green, red pupiled, eyes were now dark, without any light, grey. I watched as many hands reached into the wires and began pulling them out, handful by handful until…_

My eye widened as I pulled myself out of Arisu's thoughts, that boy on that table was…Ultimo. I pushed myself up off the floor, and before I even had time to think of what I was doing, I slammed the shōji door open and ran out, running down the rōka in the opposite direction from where the other three sat, I didn't care at all if they saw me running at some unnormally, unnatural speed, as heck if I cared, if I didn't find him soon, then it would be possible that Ultimo will be 'deprogrammed'.

I just ran, not caring if I knew where I was or not, I had to find him.

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**Hao's P.O.V.**

I sat on the rōka along with one of my closest allies, a brown haired descendant of mine named Annai. But her prettiness was not the reason she was one of my closest allies, the reason was that she was an Asakura, the only Asakura ever to side with me, in a way she was my descendent and I considered her an extremely close cousin. The reason she joined me was considered ironic in my head, you see Annai is blind, she was born blind and because of that the Asakura disowned her, seeing as they didn't know what to do with her. I found her in an alley about to be raped by a group of drunken samurai. That angered me, just a bunch of useless humans doing more harm in this world. I heard her story through her head and realized she was my bloodline, and after that the samurai turned to pile of ashes. I thought her how to use her shaman sense to live and now she was practically one of the strongest of those who follow me.

"According to Ari she brought a pretty girl today," Annai began, changing our previously unimportant conversation. _'As I remember she couldn't shut her mouth about it.' _I smiled as I looked at the sky, twilight hadn't broken out yet, the sun was still out, spreading its light through the cold earth. Humor hit me as I thought of the relationship between Annai and Arisu, it was uncanny really, a hyper and over energetic pixie, and an serious and stern stone, nothing in common besides their family-like relationship with me, and Arisu found this enough to come close with Annai.

"She told you about that, huh?" I asked with a hint of humor in my voice. Of course she would hear it from Ari.

"That's all she talks about today, well is she pretty?" _'She better be your type.' _I sighed, Annai and Ari have both always wished for me to find someone for myself, saying that I always looked so lonely. I wouldn't think of such thing though, I had a wife in my previous life, that's how I was able to have descendents, but it was just a part of my plan, I didn't love her, I didn't care of her as long as she gave me descendents to carry on my strong shamanic bloodline. Yet Annai pushed me with insults when I told her of this, _heartless, manipulating fool_, I believed was what she called me. I was interrupted by another one of her thoughts, _'You're surrounded by stunning girls that would kill themselves to have you, you're just too ignorant of love! Now answer me, Hao!'_

I tried hard not to let a smile creep up my face, but it was difficult, if I didn't answer her I knew she would kick me, and you just couldn't avoid one of Annai's kicks, they could make you land in a pool of your own blood, ask the man that is in love with her. _'HAO!'_

I winced at the growl of rage she sent into my head, I sighed and thought of the girl from today, she was definitely my age, or at least maybe a year younger, but I remembered the strange reaction I had. With just one look my breath caught –her beauty was just that unexpected. Her smooth skin looked tanned to a deep gold that was almost as rich a color as her long blonde hair, but what really caught my eye was her eyes, it was as if you were staring into the force of a burning flame, a flame that instantly caused your heart to increase the pounding of it in your chest. That girl…she was stunning.

I looked at Annai whose face was turned in my direction, _'Well?'_ her head asked in a grave, menacing tone.

"I think…that pretty is too much of an understatement," I admitted.

"What does she look like?" she asked dully.

Of course she would ask that. But a comparison was nothing hard for me to think of.

"She looks like a combination between you and…my mother…"

I knew it wasn't fair for me to just describe the girl like that, but if I went into detail she would notice my interest in the girl and all hell would break loose for me.

"Your mother…that can't be good," was her response.

I laughed, "Why do you say that?"

She paused, thinking of a reasonable response for me, "Because if she looks like your mother than you wouldn't try to start a relationship with her. You'll be too caught up in the past, and your rage will come to you once more."

This was possibly the only person who knew well my feelings towards my mother, and she had a large point in her examination, the crimsoned eyes goddess looked like my mother, the skin tone and the hair, and her aura all felt similar, but there was a part of her that reminded me of Annai, her coldness towards men, her emotionless mien. It would be possible for that combination to help me see past the similarities but I highly doubted that. And that really bugged me.

"Well?"

"What do you want me to say?" I snapped back, irritated in my own selfish conclusion of my future with the girl.

There was a sigh, _'That's just like you Hao,' _"You're not even going to try are you?"

Was I?

"I don't know." I replied, and I instinctively knew what was coming next…

"Coward."

I despised her insults, as soon as I was going to get involved in a childish game of name calling I heard Ari running down the rōka, her face was shocked and worried, and her eyes were wide. I was used to seeing that face a lot, it meant someone had died, another one of my followers was seen dead through the futuristic eyes of Ari.

"Hao-Nii-sama!" _'She's dead. I saw it, the alley, blood, ripped clothes…'_ "Hao-Nii-sama," she called once more, gasping for her breath as she came, "Savana is-is, I saw her go into an alley and-and-"

"She's dead." I turned to Annai, not surprised much by her interpretation of Ari's usual ritual, but there was another way she knew this fact, "Her spirit just left this world." Yes, I thought my descendant how to use her sixth shaman sense, leading her to become the strongest itako of this time, I'll admit I'm proud of my own work.

I raised my head to look at Ari, the girl seemed as if she would jump off a mountain if I didn't answer her soon, "Another one, huh?" was all I said, it really didn't matter to me, if they were easily killed by other shamans than that meant they weren't strong enough, and here the strong prey on the weak.

"Is that all you can say!?" she shouted at me, her blue eyes wide with sudden anger. "Do you know how many of our allies have died now, Nii-sama?!"

"Yes I do," I responded calmly, of course I did, "What do you expect me to do? In your vision you never saw who killed her, or where they killed her. You just saw her dead in an alley, how many alleys do you think there are around here, Ari?" I closed my eyes, a smirk creeping up my face, a new thought coming to me, "But if it pleases you, then I could simply set all the alleys on fire, that way we'll know they're dead," –I opened an eye- "Would you rather me do that?" I asked her, raising a brow.

I knew that wasn't reasonable, for all we knew the murders could already be far from the alley, no one could be stupid enough to stay at the place where they murdered someone.

Arisu had that childish look of protest on her face, "B-but-"

"A good girl knows when to be silent, Ari," Annai interrupted in her speak-one-more-word-and-you're-dead-tone, "now's a good time to be silent."

Ari pouted childishly, and I sighed, thirteen years of age or not, Arisu was still a child, I watched her fumble around with a piece of Hoshi's golden armor for a while until I saw her hand suddenly release it.

The giant greave came falling to the wooden floors of the rōka, knowing that she wouldn't purposely drop it, because she was polishing it before, I looked at her knowing what to expect. Before I even looked at her, her vision came to me, invading the privacy of my head, I was used to this, seeing as I couldn't block any thought or images from my head as soon as a person would have them. I expected another vision involving one of my followers but I got something puzzling instead.

_A dark room with only a large candle that lit the center of the room, in the middle of the room was a table made of rock and on that rock was a boy with unruly red hair, his stomach was opened but you couldn't see blood, all you could see were wire, many, many wires. His previously green, red pupiled, eyes were now dark, without any light, grey. I watched as many hands reached into the wires and began pulling them out, handful by handful until…_

I blinked, I have never seen a boy like that before, and I'm positive Ari has never either. She gave me a strange look on her face, one that practically said, _What the hell?_ I was pondering of this myself when we all heard a door slid open. I jerked my head towards the door, hearing no thoughts coming from the room, as I turned I just saw a brown blur with golden strands. I blinked and checked my vision making sure that the sun wasn't getting to my head.

I saw Ari take a peek inside the room, "Hao-Nii-sama, she's gone," she told me in a shocked voice. I was pretty shocked myself, that girl had such an amazing speed, nothing like I've seen before. Annai raised her head up, not bothering to turn towards either of us as she spoke.

"That girl…there was a long feeling of worry in her…"

I raised a brow, worry? She was in the living location of the great Asakura Hao, what shaman wouldn't be worried. Annai titled her head to her left, her blank eyes staring off into my direction. "Will you not go after her?" she asked dully.

I laid on my back, crossing my arms behind my head, "No, I see no reason why," I really didn't, the girl left due to her own free will, though there was a part of me that seemed…disappointed? Hmm, this was entirely new to me, I'll have to check my temperature later. And possibly make some medicine to cure my future headache as Ari's accusing voice came into my head.

'_You are blind, Hao-Nii-sama. Can't you see where you're heading? Can't you see where you already are? It's more inevitable than the sun rising in the east. See what I see-"_

I lifted my head when I heard her accusations stop and a new image appeared in my head, another one of Ari's visions…

_The girl was running, at an incredible speed, she didn't even seem the least bit tired, but either way she stopped. She looked at her surroundings, seeming lost, five shadows emerged behind her, and she turned around to see five men looking at her with hungry eyes…_

"NO!" I roared, a volley of snarls erupting from my throat, I jerked myself up. Ari and Annai both jumped at my sudden out burst, Ari blinked and looked at me with a quire expression.

I jolted to my feet and grabbed Ari by the shoulders, shaking her like crazy, "Show me a better view of where she is!" I demanded her; she stared at me, her blue eyes wide in shock.

Not even I understood my sudden change of mood, but for some strange reason I couldn't stand to see this, could not bear it. I tried to banish it from my mind, tried to see something else within Ari's mind, anything else, all to no avail. Ari's bleak vision filled my head and I writhed internally with the agony it caused, my grip on the small girl's shoulder tightening, but she didn't protest.

That girl…what was this feeling I was having because of that girl? Did…I love her? No, I didn't think so…at least, not yet. I barely even knew the girl, but her attitude, her way of being, her voice, her visage, her eyes, I could see myself loving that girl with those bright crimsoned eyes, it would be like falling effortlessly. But my head denied that option while my body was hurting the sister-like figure in my hands; I was still searching her head for an answer, but found nothing.

Behind me Annai cleared her throat, I turned to her and saw a spirit whispering in her ear, she turned nodded and dully turned her head in my direction, _'Seven miles east of here, dark side of the closest mountain, third alley to your left…they're the same ones that murdered Savana, so if you don't get there in time…'_

Oh, I was ready to get there in time, "Spirit of Fire!"

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**Annaka's P.O.V.**

I ran and kept running, I was sure I was out of Asakura Hao's territory, but that didn't matter to me, I had to get back to the Patch café, I had to get to Nee-san, I had to find Ultimo. My speed increased even more as I thought of this, I dodged trees, jump over bushes, stepped over rocks, and yet I kept moving at the same speed. As I ran I couldn't help but to notice my speed, all the things I passed were a huge colorful blur, and the things that were a mile away from me I would pass in about a second. So this was part of my abilities as a Shaman Queen…

My feet came to a stop, dust flying all over the place as I did. I looked where I was, seeing hardly any familiar landmarks or things around me. Everything was quiet, so I took the opportunity to open the shield around my head, stretching it out so I could at least try to find Nee-san's thoughts. Instead I found others…

'_Ooo, look over there, there seems to be a little blonde sweet over there…'_

'_Looks like I found a sweet meldar fruit to fit my taste, and I have the poperin pear to go with it…' _

It was the hentais from before, and this time there were five of them. I would've run but that's exactly what they wanted me to do, according to their perverted heads they liked to chase down their prey, feeling the adrenaline of the hunt. I wasn't going to run, but I began walking, away from them, they followed.

'_Look at her, she's quivering in her cloak…'_

'_Soon she'll be on her back for me…'_

I shook my head, their images were so repulsive, it disgusted me to great limits. I _really _felt like biting their heads off, burn them to ashes, slicing them in half, anything to end their pathetic lives. But… _'Please, don't kill anyone…'_ I made that dang promise to Nee-san…

"Oi, blondie, no worries, we just wish to chat with you!" one of the five low-lives shouted at me.

"Oh yes, we just want to get to know you better!" _'You and your body, haha…'_

My hands balled up into fists, trying to control myself from snapping my fingers and having the earth swallow them as a whole.

"Come on don't be like that! We're not going to hurt y-"

Before he could even finish his lie I turned around and rapidly went over to one of them and kicked him in the face. If there was one thing I could stand it was man that lied. The man fell backwards onto the ground, blood streaming down from his nose, hey at least I didn't kill him, trust me I could've kick him _much_ harder.

The other four men looked at me in amazement, their eyes wide, some of them quivering in fear. Good, they should be scared.

'_How'd she get all the way here so fast?!' _one of them coward, looking into my eyes with fear.

'_Her eyes…they scream DANGEROUS!'_

'_I barely even blinked when she came over here!'_

'_Brave, this one. Maybe better…more fight in her. That makes her way better than that sandy blonde girl we did a while ago…' _ My eyes grew vicious as he began to imagine my pleas, the way I would beg, and he compared it to the girl he did before. And my eyes became wide as I recognized the face in his thoughts. Sandy blonde hair, tan oily skin, her hair full of humidity, hazel eyes…it was that Savana women…

One of the hentais smirked at seeing my eyes widening, _'Good, she's shaking in fear now…'_

Ha, yeah right, I wouldn't shake at anything besides seeing his ugly face when I wake up.

The four of them began moving slowly towards me, trying to create a moment of suspense-the same dang suspense that aroused him when he did this. He waited for me to scream or to run, but he was disappointed, no way was I planning on doing any of the two, and I definitely wasn't going to let them touch even a strand of my hair. They were going realize what the _real _meaning of pain was before they did anything, they would suffer and writhe with agony, and they would beg to be dead as soon as I would begin my torture.

They came closer and closer, but just as soon as they reached five feet to me I heard a sound, a long screech, its sound coming this way, then before I could even blink a carriage came this way, it did a circle around me, causing the five hentais to come crashing to the ground, then it stopped about ten feet away from me, just to my left.

The hentais were on the floor, dust blocking their view from me, I turned my gaze to the carriage and noticed it shaking, then I heard a familiar voice full of joy, "Annaka-joou-sama!!" I saw two things in about two seconds, the side of the carriage crashed open, pieces and flanks of wood flying out everywhere, and then I saw the reason it crashed open, Ultimo flew out of the carriage along with the pieces of wood. He yelled my name one more time and when I blinked I felt him throw himself at me, wrapping his arms around my neck, his head rested on my shoulder, and a huge boyish grin planted on his face.

He looked like a little boy who had just found his mother…

I blinked, and pushed him back by his shoulders, "Ultimo?" I dumbly ask, still trying to get over the shock of his sudden appearance, "What the heck are you doing here?! You're supposed to be with Nee-san!" I shouted in anger.

"You little brat!" one of the men shouted, a few splinters of wood stuck in the skin of his face. He stood up and flexed his hands making his way over to us as his companions stood up. "I'm going to rip you head of and then finish our business with your good-looking friend in your arms."

I watch them come this way, but I didn't quiver, neither than Ultimo, he knew better than to be scared of other shamans when I was already irritated enough to kill someone. I heard their plans of attacking us and I expected every move, what I didn't expect was a spear launch itself out the carriage and into the chest of one the men. I felt Ultimo winced as he hung from where I held him by the shoulders. My attention turned to the carriage and I heard someone _tsk _from the inside.

"What the hell do you guys think you're doing?!" someone asked, a male, and he sounded annoyed, violently annoyed.

"Who are you?!" the four alive hentais shouted out in fear, shaking in their attire.

"It doesn't matter who I am," the male voice in the carriage answered, I heard wood creak as someone stood from their seat inside, foot steps were heard and I saw the face of the owner of the spear.

He was Chinese with long dark purple hair down to his hip, on the top of his head you could see three spiky locks of hair neatly clipped up by a golden clip. He wore black, high class Chinese yuanlingshan, the sleeves of the yuanlingshan were mostly curved with a narrow sleeve cuff, it has round collar and side slits, this man's yuanlingshan had side panels at the side slits to conceal the undergarments, the collar was secured with a button, and a crossed-collar golden undergarment was worn underneath. The colors he wore were consisted mostly of black and gold, a little purple here and there.

His golden eyes violently gazed at the men that tried to come at me, the golden orbs narrowing at the sight of the men, _'That disgusting smell,' _I heard him think, _'they smell of liquor and sex, what a waste of bodies…' _"It doesn't matter who I am," he repeated taking a large step off the carriage, "but your actions bother me, surely your mothers regret having such weak and disgusting shamans as yourselves. So why not do your sorry mothers a favor and leave, now."

Really couldn't have said it better myself…

Three of the men began to quiver, thinking that it would be best to run, one of them looked annoyed, talk of a man's mother and you've hit a soar spot. "You bastard! How dare you talk of my mother?! You have a hell of a mouth you piece of shit!"

The purple haired male's glare became darker, more deadly and hungry for the men's blood to spill, "I'm getting impatient," he hissed, "Leave now…unless you want to die."

One of the hentais brought out a club, "Hey, hey, hey, what's with this pointy haired freak? Do you have any idea who we are?"

Ultimo was now shivering, one second you saw the purple haired Chinese standing there, just glaring at the men, then you see him in front of a dead body with a black and gold spear in his hand. I blinked, when did he move? He was really fast, but Nee-san told me that most Chinese were skilled in martial arts, and martial arts involved speed, plenty of it.

So basically it was two down, three to go.

The golden eye male turned to the second dead body, "I don't care who the hell you guys are. I do care that you are a bunch of worthless walking men who think with their dicks, you prey on women as if they were food, and I do not stand for such thing," he turned to the other three, that were very much alive, "I promise you three something," he said, his eyes glowing in anger, "I, Tao Rem, will definitely not let you live."

I raised a brow. Tao Rem? My gaze turned to Ultimo, he didn't look at me, but he gave me an answer right away. _'Tao Rem, heir and current head of the Tao clan, Chinese, age 18. He __is a particularly impatient person with a very short temper, and isn't afraid to hurt the source of the anger. His family, the Taos, are a group of Chinese assassins and a powerful shamanic clan, his spirit is a recently dead Chinese warrior named Bason, who served the Taos for most of his life and who will now serve them even in death.'_

I nodded to show him I heard exactly as he told me, a Chinese assassin with a soft spot for the treating of women, eh? I turned my gaze back to the fight and saw that now there were only two men left, and both of them were cowering behind one another as Tao Rem approached them, giant spear in hand.

I would've kept looking if I didn't hear a very familiar chuckle float through the air, followed by a voice, "I'm impressed by your temper, Tao Rem," the voice said.

The two hentais looked at each other, eyes wide, "That voice…" one of them said aloud, "it-it belongs to…"

He couldn't finish, neither could the other, Tao Rem's spear stroke right through both of their chests and they fell lifeless to the ground as soon as he pulled his spear out. Tao Rem turned his head towards the direction of the wind, "Who the hell are you?" he asked, no fear detected in his tone or his thoughts.

There were footsteps, hard and loud stomping footsteps that filled the air, then before my very eyes a saw a huge flame of fire burst out of nowhere, burning none of the trees it surrounded but bringing out a large red figure from its flames. My stomach suddenly fell like coughing something up, that large red figure…I recognized it…I could recognize it anywhere…it was…The Spirit of Fire. And in its hand appeared the man that had taken my breath away only who knows how long ago, Asakura Hao.

Tao Rem stiffened then got into a fighting stance, holding his spear out incase he needed to use it, "Asakura Hao," he hissed, "come to fight me have you?"

Asakura Hao smirked, amused of the Tao's immediate anger by just one look of him. "No, I was just taking a stroll and I've seem to have found something of mine," he said, his eyes shifting their movement over to me.

I pulled my gaze away from his, not wanting to look into those strange warm eyes, instead I looked down at Ultimo and I saw him staring at the carriage, his eyes practically glued to it. I gazed up at the carriage and I heard a small giggle, seeing a shadow like figure move from inside. Tao Rem turned his gaze on the carriage, as so did Asakura Hao.

In time I saw two feet finally coming out of the shadow caused by the carriage, I looked at the face as it emerged from the carriage, the face of a girl, a green haired girl. "Onii-sama," the girl said starring at the older Tao, "put down your spear, he doesn't seem to be here to fight you."

Tao Rem turned to the younger girl, glaring his eyes at her, "Are you giving _me_ orders, Ju?" he hissed, obviously not enjoying this turn of masculinity events.

Ju narrowed her eyes, _'I am a head as well, Rem…' _she got off the carriage and went to her elder brother's side, then her green eyes gazed up and Asakura Hao. "You can take whatever you want and leave, I honestly don't want my brother to die yet," she said aloud.

The three spikes on Tao Rem's head stood and increased in size, he was irritated, "What did you say?!" he shouted in rage.

Asakura Hao laughed out loud, seeming amused, "Women are able to make us men so weak," he informed causing the male Tao to turn red with rage, "Though I'm not after what you're thinking, Tao Ju, I'm not here to take you," he added.

I blinked, did I miss something? I looked down at Ultimo, his green eyes were gazing at me, I raised a brow at him and he immediately responded me, _'Tao Ju, age 14, second head of the Tao clan, she's a Taoist specialized in zombies, taught by her deceased mother. Her two greatest zombies are named Kyo and Shu, who were both given surgery again and again for them to become beautiful enough for Ju. Another thing to know is that Tao Ju is that seeing as she is one of the heads she needs so find a strong shamanic husband, the suitors have to fight against her and win, but no one has beaten her yet, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have an eye for someone. She has her eyes set on Asakura Hao.'_

A silver spoon girl who finally wanted something that she can't have…ah, the irony. I looked at this so called Tao Ju, her face was made into a frown, then I noticed that she was looking straight at Asakura's eyes, and those eyes were staring at me. Tao Ju's gaze turned over to me and I'm guessing that it was the first time she actually looked at me because her eyebrows shot up as soon as she took the first look at me. _'This girl…'_

I blocked her thoughts out of my mind before she could finish thinking anything about me, then I caught Tao Rem also looking at me, his golden eyes piercing through me. _'I've never seen such a woman…dang rapists! I can see why they would go after her…'_

A vein appeared on my temple what was it with these dang people?! I swear! My gaze turned upward at Asakura Hao, he was now sitting with his legs crossed, his chin resting on the palm of his hand, and his body still on the palm of The Spirit of Fire. He was listening to the thoughts of the two Taos, becoming amused at their compliments, he stood up and his view turned to me, he gave me a smile and then turned to the Taos. "If you don't mind now, I'll be taking what I came for," –He snapped his fingers and before I could blink I saw fire surround both me and Ultimo, it swallowed us whole then when I could see something we appeared to be up high. Ultimo was grabbing my arm tightly, scared as a lost five year old, and to my left stood Asakura Hao, his back turned to me, his eyes still facing the Taos.– "Not to worry, we'll see each other soon, it's not long until the tournament will begin…"

With that said we disappeared from their sight.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**WOW I ACTUALLY WROTE THIS CHAPTER FASTER THAN I THOUGHT! HAHA I'M PROUD OF MYSELF! THOUGH I DON'T KNOW IF I MADE IT TO Y'ALL'S LIKING…**

**OH WELL ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST HAHA!**

**BTW I FORGOT TO ASK YOU GUYS SOMETHING, HOW'D Y'ALL LIKE MY EXPLINATION OF Yoh's FUNGA FU FU THING IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER? HAHA I GOT THE IDEA FROM MANKIN-TRAD, WE WERE DISCUSSING WHY Yoh DOES THE "FUNGA FU FU" THING & NO ONE KNEW THE ANSWER, SO I MADE ONE UP HAHA.**

**OKAY BACK TO THIS CHAPTER, I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THIS ARC, IT TOOK ME A LOT OF NIGHTS TO PLAN IT, BUT I ENJOYED IT.**

**OKAY SO I BET YOU ARE ALL WONDERING "WHY IS SORAGUIMI IN THIS CHAPTER?!!!!" ALL WILL BE EXPLAINED IN TIME I PROMISE.**

**ANOTHER THING, THIS TIME ABOUT Ultimo [I LUFF Ultimo~~~], OKAY I BET YOU GUYS ARE ALL, "ROBOTS DIDN'T EXIST IN THIS TIME PERIOD WTHECK?!" WELL I'M SURE Y'ALL READ KZB CHAPTER 296, I HAVE TO SAY THAT CHAPTER REALLY HELPED ME ON HOW TO FIT Ultimo IN THIS STORY.**

**NOW HEHE HOW MANY OF YOU WERE SHOCKED TO SEE THE TAOS, EH? COME ON NOW BE HONEST…**

**WELL THIS STORY WAS INTERESTING TO WRITE, I LOVE 1 PERSON P.O.V.S THEY DECRIBE THE CHARACTER'S FEELINGS MUCH MORE, BUT I'LL ONLY WRITE IN Hao OR Annaka P.O.V. SOMETIMES IN 3RD PERSON SO Y'ALL CAN SEE WHAT IS GOING ON WHILE Hao & Annaka ARE AWAY.**

**ONE MORE QUESTION…HOW MANY OF YOU LIKE LIME?? I'M CURIOUS BECAUSE I NOTICE STORIES GET MORE REVIEWS IF YOU ADD LIME…I WONT ADD ANY UNLESS**

**ALL OF YOU WANT ME TO, BUT I'M CURIOUS…**

**ONE MORE THING, ABOUT THE PERVERTED COMMENTS MADE BY THE HENTAIS, SURELY YOU GUYS HAVE READ ROMEO & JULIET RIGHT? IF NOT JUST ASK ME AND I'LL EXPLAIN THE WHOLE MELDAR FRUIT AND POPERIN PEAR THING  
**

**TIME TO REPLY TO MY REVIEWERS!!!!!!!!!!!**

complicatedmind21- _ Haha yeah I know, but it'll clear itself up later, thanks for your review!_

shaman king yolie- _Thanks so much! hope you also enjoyed this chapter.  
_

RuneKunaiV- _I'm sure you've read others, mine can't really be that great hehe, thank you for the review either way!_

Elpatolocosisi-_ Well I can't say now, but after the Arc there will be a whole Anna/Yoh chapter explaining all those things, but its going to be tough, but your question will be answered in that chapter. Thanks for reviewing._

Majrocks- _Nah, thank you for reviewing, hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! I'll try my best!_

Nightglider- _*bow repeatedly* Gomenasen!!!!!!!!! I'll make it up to you! After the arc there will be a chapter with ONLY Yoh and Anna, I promise! Gomenasen!!!!!!_

- _Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!_

**PLEASE REMEMBER TO READ AND REVIEW!**

**--Crystel Hidalgo/YohAnna4eva  
**


	16. Hoshi no Kissu II

**complicatedmind21- ****here's ur prize for letting me know ur actually reading the arc!!!!!!!**

**[A/N: one thing before i start, when Annaka or Hao try to see through someone's head the words they say are in italics because she hears them through that person's thoughts, but they're describing what they see so thats why the rest is in regular font.]  
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**00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**YohxAnna Side Story: Shut Your Eyes and Dream**

_For the moment everything was dark, black, and lifeless. In the center of night's cloak was the Shaman King who looked around him, confused and partly scared._

"_What's going on?" He asked, seeing nothing around him, "Where is everyone?" he began to frantically look around, "Hao?! Ren?! Lyserg?! Manta?! Chocolove?! Ryu?! Faust!" he began calling out like crazy, "Horohoro?!" then a new name came to him, "Anna? Anna, where are you?! Anna!"_

_A loud chuckle was heard in the darkness, a woman's, Yoh was startled as the chuckle stopped and turned into speech, "Why are you searching so hard for her, Asakura Yoh?" the woman sounding voice asked, saying his name with a certain disgust._

_Yoh blinked and answered, not knowing who he was answering to, "Because I have to find her."_

"_You worry too much, psh, you're just like 'him'."_

"_Him?"_

"_Tell me something, Asakura Yoh," the voice began, "would you do __anything__ for that girl, even give up the throne and possibly…your life?"_

"_Why are you asking me this?"_

"_You saw what she did, you saw her true power, you saw her true self, the image of the Queen, you saw it. So do you still love her?"_

"_Why-"_

"_If I told you she killed much more people than you've seen today, would you still love her? Would you?!"_

"_Who are you?!" he shouted now in rage, "Show yourself, right now!"_

_The darkness began fading slowly, very slowly. And a new scene was appearing, it was a small red bridge, snow surrounding it and still falling from the grey sky. A figure was beginning to form on the bridge, a woman wearing a thin light pink hakama the long waist skirt that went over it was red. She had long waist-length pink hair that matched the color of her deep eyes, she smirked when her figure was now a clear and a perfect view and she took in his expression._

_Yoh's eyes widened, then he became confused, "T-Tamao?" he asked, could it really be Tamao? When he last checked Tamao didn't have long hair, and those eyes…they seemed both deadly and hungry._

_The Tamao-like figure smiled, then she raised her hand, touching her thumb and middle finger together. For a second Yoh saw what seemed to be a ring of burnt skin around both her wrists, the woman smiled once more before her expression became on of anger, "Let me tell you one think, Asakura Yoh," she said in deadly voice, "I am both you and your brother's worst nightmare. And you…will be the end of all the Kings and will surely end the life of your Queen." She snapped her fingers and Yoh quickly saw and felt fire come around him, burning him to ashes…_

Yoh jerked his eyes open, his breaths coming to him a bit too fast to be considered normal breathing, sweat was dripping down his face and the rest of his body, he felt something beside him move and he turned his head just in time to see Anna rise from beside him.

She was naked, the lower half of her body being covered by the blanket that they both shared, but her upper half was bare, with only invisible air to cover it, "Yoh?" she asked in a sleepy manner, "Nani?"

The Shaman King felt his cheeks suddenly become hot, his ears burning as if they were on fire. To distract himself he slowly began wiping the sweat off of his forehead, "Nothing Anna," he responded in a whisper, "I…I just had a bad dream…"

Anna raised a brow, now pulling the covers over her upper half, "What are you, Yoh, a child?" she protested.

Yoh smiled and got closer to her, his body coming slightly on top of hers as he leaned in on top, he could feel her chest against his through the covers and he pulled the covers off of her, their chests now in full contact with each other. "Maybe I still am I child," he admitted, his head falling from her shoulder to her chest, laying his head on her bosom, "and a child need to hear a heartbeat to fall asleep."

She sighed and closed her eyes slowly, while Yoh began to relax with her smooth heartbeat at his ear, they stayed like that for what seemed like hours to them but to the time of life it was only five minutes. The Shaman King opened one eyes, his breathing synchronizing with Anna's beat, then he began to think and spoke aloud. "Anna…would you…like us to get married?"

Her eyes flew open, "Nani?" she asked, she looked at his face and saw the extreme seriousness that reflected in his eyes, she sighed and thought about it, _marriage…_

She opened her eyes, her thoughts rummaging on and on about the question Yoh had asked her. Did she want to get married? She opened her mouth, "Yoh, technically we are already married-"

"Being Shaman King and Queen doesn't count Anna," Yoh interrupted her, "Physically, you are mine, emotionally, you are mine, but…legally, you are not…"

Anna slowly turned her view to the ceiling, "I've thought about it…and yes, I've been wanting that for a while, but…"

"Then it's settled!" Yoh piped up happily, his eyes filled with joy, "As soon as we leave the Great Spirit then you and I can get married!"

The Queen rolled her eyes, his excitement was that of a small child waiting to go to his first trip to an amusement park, he acted like a child receiving the best present for his birthday, and it actually flattered her, "…baka…" she muttered to herself.

He chuckled and made himself more comfortable on her chest, "I'm your baka," he muttered softly, but loud enough for her to hear. She smiled and relaxed a bit more, but then a thought went through her head and she looked away.

"At least…you're my baka until Tamao decides to take you…"

Yoh jerked his head up off her chest and his eyes grew from what he had just heard, "Anna…" he said in a grave tone.

She shrugged, ignoring her husband's tone; he leaned closer to her and looked right into her eyes, "Don't ever say that again, Anna," he begged, "you know more than I that that won't ever happen."

She smirked, "I just wanted to hear you say that, make sure we were on the same level about that."

Yoh sighed and threw himself back on his side of the futon, why did she have to bring that up? But now that she mentioned it, that dream was coming back into his head, he turned around to face Anna but only saw her bare back, he scooted close to her and wrapped his arms around her, his chest touching her back. Anna winced at the sudden touch between the two and looked back at him, he smiled and placed his chin on her shoulder, "I remembered my bad dream," he whispered sheepishly.

Anna raised a brow and turned her whole body to face him, both of their chests now touching each other, she raised her head a bit off the pillow and brought her lips to his, she was about to pull away after about five seconds until she felt Yoh place his hand on the back of her head and pushed her lips onto his again. Soon enough Yoh grabbed her by the waist and pulled her on top of him, kissing her fiercely.

He finally pulled away and held her tightly, "Now I'll have sweet dreams," he said, a huge grin plastered across his face. Anna just rolled her eyes and then slowly closed them.

"Then shut your eyes and dream," she ordered as she drifted to sleep in his arms once more.

"Hai, Anna."

----

The shaman King opened his eyes for the second time, this time he saw that the room was lit with the sun's rays. He stood up and stretched, making his way towards the bathroom. Once he entered he began to think as he entered the shower. The dream he had last night was strange, very, very strange. Never once in his life had he ever seen such an expression on Tamao's face, the one he saw in his dream was deadly, vicious, the face of some kind of demon.

And what she had said had puzzled Yoh, and it also frightened him, because _that _Tamao looked like she could eat your soul. Yoh shook his head as the cold water of the shower fell on his head and woke him out of his day slumber. After his shower was over he got out and placed a new yukata on his body, then he went back to the bedroom.

Just as he came out of the bathroom, Anna stirred.

"Yoh..." She murmured as she looked over at her husband sleepily. "You're done?" She yawned.

He nodded, smiling. "Hai." He went over to her and gently bent down to give her a kiss. "Want me to help you with your shower?" He murmured as he stroked her cheek.

Anna shook her head, then yawned again. "You've had enough," She whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck and turned her head to receive his kiss. He hesitated for a moment but then lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her.

This always happened. It was a weird, indescribable experience, their kisses, but he wouldn't give it up for the world, boy was he weak.

He had only intended on giving her one short, one of those kisses that were like the wind. But as soon as their lips closed all the space between them...he had given in to his greatest weakness...her.

As for her...how was it that she had been taught not to be weak? Yet here she was, actually being weak under his touch?

But she didn't give a damn. No one watched, and if Yoh ever said anything about this side of their lives then she wouldn't hestitate to torture him, but as I said before, she really didn't care right now. At any moment Yoh could chose to leave her, so she might as well enjoy every dang minute.

Yoh reluctantly broke the kiss. He looked over at his wife's face, loving every second that he looked in her face. "I'd better go. Cadm might be hungry at that hospital…"

At those words that reminded her of the events that happened yesterday, the Queen's face was no longer tired but it turned aware then it turned to stone. "Then you better go," she ordered as she instantly stood up and headed to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Yoh sighed as he got up and walked over to the door, opening it and seeing Ohachiyo standing there with an impatient look on his face. "About time. What took you so long?" He asked, throwing Yoh a suspicious look.

Yoh grinned at his friend. "I was asking Anna's permission." He gave a cheerful shrug. "It took longer than I expected." Actually, it was the kiss that took longer than he expected...not that he was complaining...

The demon just rolled his eyes as he turned around and began to walk away from Yoh. "I'm sure it did." He said dryly, rolling his eyes in utter disturbance, "Well, let's go, then."

"Hai." Yoh nodded and followed his friend out of the main wing to the staircase. He had just suddenly remembered that they were no longer in Machiosore, but in Kyouto, they were no longer in Cadm's house, but in a hotel. And yesterday he had seen his seven year old self with Anna's, and before yesterday he never once remembered something like that happening. Until now he had NEVER even seen Anna-chan's young face, no younger than 10 years at least.

"Ohachiyo…why can't I remember…ever meeting Anna-chan as a kid?" he forced himself to ask, "I can understand Anna not remembering, she _did _hit her head…"

"I can't tell you right now but there has been a time where something like that happened 500 years ago…" the demon answered, "the queen at that time had lost herself in rage and one of the Patch members stopped her before she could do anymore harm."

Yoh gulped, "What did he do?" he dared to ask.

Ohachiyo stopped for a moment, "The Patch used an ancient sword, the 'Ryumon Sword Golden Sakura Folded Katana' I believe it was called. Anyway that sword had some sort of special shamanic powers, the ability to control your thoughts so that a person may think what you want them to. So in other words if the person wants you to cool your head then you cool your head. But there was a price in using its shamanic ability…you'd have to give your life."

Yoh froze, "So if someone were to use this sword on Anna-chan……Ohachiyo, who has that sword right now?"

"Cadm does, why?"

Yoh's eyes widened, and he then exploded out into a run, with Ohachiyo trailing behind. _'Cadm has the Ryumon Sword Golden Sakura Folded Katana, in my time he is not alive, and the city of Machiosore has never existed, meaning…Cadm…'_

------

"Cadm!" Yoh yelled as he entered the room assigned to Anna-chan at the Kyouto hospital. There Cadm sat on a chair beside Anna-chan's bed, where she laid pale, and still unconscious.

"Yoh-sama you're in a hospital, be silent." Cadm asked of him, he stood up and walked over to the shaman king, "Is there a problem?" he asked.

"The…golden…folded…Ryumon…sword…" Yoh said through harsh pants, he never wanted to run that fast ever again.

Cadm raised a brow, "You know about that?" he asked, handing Yoh a bottle of water. Yoh nodded and Cadm sighed. "I'm not planning to use it unless necessary. Only if she were to become out of control and if I cant do anything to help her…than I shall give my life to her."

"You shouldn't have to do that though, sacrifices…are never right…" Yoh whispered silently.

Cadm placed a hand on his shoulder, "Wouldn't you sacrifice yourself for her?"

"…hai…"

"Then don't tell me about sacrifices, cause the Patch tribe probably sacrifices more than anyone."

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Shaman King 300: Disaster of 500 years**

**Chapter 16: Hoshi no Kissu II**

**Normal P.O.V**

Joan D'Arc slowly tapped her fingers on the counter one by one, she sat on a high stool, her back straight, and her legs perfectly crossed in a very lady-like form. Marcel sat beside her on a stool, his tiny hands polishing a huge wall gun that had obviously been painted white. Arrison was running up and down, serving to the guest at the Patch Café, she finished one of her table and walked over to the counter, placing the dirty dishes on top of it.

"Where could those two have gone off two?" Joan asked in a soft tone, looking rather bored, "It's extremely late…"

"If they ran away from you Joan-sama, I shall give them justice," Marcel said as he pointed his gun forward and pretended to aim. Joan placed her hand on the gun and lowered it.

"Such evil words, Marcel, are to be punished for just speaking them." Marcel raised his head and looked up as Joan continued, "'Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.' That seems pretty wide open to interpretation on it's own, as it's literal meaning implies that one may only speak if teaching, or ministering to some other listener. Now tell me Marcel are you teaching or ministering?"

The blonde haired boy lowered his head, "No Joan-sama, please forgive this Marcel…"

Joan D'Arc smiled, "Thou have been forgiven."

"You forgive too easily Joan," a voice said from behind. Behind them was a man with spiky pitch black hair, this man wore a Patch uniform and on his left shoulder was the spirit of a howler monkey.

Joan smiled, "Acts 3:19; 'Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.' I intend to also forgive those who cause trouble, but if they do not repent themselves…then justice shall be given onto them."

Marcel stood and held his gun up to the spiky haired man's neck, "In other words," the little boy spoke, "if anyone does anything to Joan-sama and does not beg, then they'll die right on the spot from being shot by me."

Arrison placed both her elbows on the counter, her eyes were on the spiky haired man, "Did most of your shaman pass your exam, Raiden?" she asked as she got another plate of food to take to yet another customer.

The Patch that Arrison called Raiden smiled, "They were tough but most of them were not Shaman King material. Only a handful got an oracle bell from me, on the other hand, I heard that all of Hao's followers made it, though no one knows who his followers are."

"Well you have been chosen for being the Patch commentator of the tournament, so you might be the first to find out, Raiden."

"And where are you going so late at night, Nagehiko?" Raiden asked, seeing the long haired Patch heading out the door, "Out to scout for Asakura Hao again?"

Nagehiko closed his eyes and smirked as he grabbed an orange from a nearby basket and began to peel it, "Nope. Tonight I'm scouting for pixie-like priestesses," he joked, taking a bite of the orange then wiping the juice off his neck.

Raiden sighed and swept his hand through his spiky hair, "Arisu-chan left again, huh?' he mused, then his expression turned serious, "You've been around that girl for quite some time, Nagehiko. Is there any particular reason?"

Nagehiko's face didn't falter, his lips just curved upward into a coy smirk, "Someone has to act like an older brother for her," he said coolly, his blue eyes shifting to where Arrison stood. The small kid glared at him, her hand reaching for an empty plate to throw at his head.

Joan sighed and rubbed her temples. Raiden frowned, "You're so harsh on Arrison-chan, Nagehiko. Of course she can't be an older brother she's a girl!" There was a pause that filled the café, although the customers were as loud as ever, between the four Patch members there was silence. Arrison lowered her head and grabbed the empty plate beside her and threw it at Nagehiko. The plate shattered against Nagehiko's chest but it didn't scratch him the least bit.

Now the whole café was silent, all the shaman customers were now staring at the Patch, there eyes wide and extremely curious. Joan got off her stool and gave the shamans a smile that stunned them all, "I'm sorry but we shall be closing now so if you may, please be at peace and head out."

Without remarking or opposing the idea, all the shaman contestants who had been eating at the café stood and began leaving, all seeming to be in some sort of a daze as they left. The silver haired Patch then turned to look at the other Patch members that were working. At the café was most of the male Patch officials each one having the same tan skin, pitch black hair, and clear blue eyes, this contrast in appearance used to make the priestess feel rather uncomfortable, for she had a soft pale color skin, crimson eyes, and silver hair, but now with her years, she had become used to it.

Her eyes darted over to Marcel's cautious look, his hands ready to use his gun at any time. Raiden was just looking back and forth between Arrison's look of rage, and Nagehiko's uncaring look. Joan opened her mouth to say something until Arrison interrupted her, "Don't say a word," she ordered the silver haired Patch, then she looked at Nagehiko who was now brushing off pieces of glass with his hand, "Just go and bring Arisu," she said before she turned around and went to pick up the unfinished plates of food that the customers were leaving behind.

Nagehiko began walking out the door, before Joan stopped him, her hand grabbing his shoulder, "Thou have been acting quire, Nagehiko. Is she Arisu?" she whispered questionably. Not many would have known of what the priestess was asking by that last sentence but Nagehiko knew well what she was asking. And all he did was chuckle softly.

"No, not her," was all he said before he went out and disappeared under the dead of night.

**________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

**Annaka's P.O.V.**

My room was dark and I really felt at ease in the dark, twilight was approaching and I was planning on spending it in this room. To my left Ultimo was lying down on the floor, his back turned to me, his fingers tracing imaginary patterns on the wall, after a while he decided to speak, "Joou-sama, I doubt Joan-chan will be pleased by this…"

I sighed, I knew he was right, Nee-san was going to find a way to restraint me and she was going to kill Ultimo. "Nee-san is never pleased by anything, Ultimo. She's a stubborn woman."

"Joou-sama…"

I laid on the futon that they had placed in the center of the room, Arisu must've seen me spending the night. That girl…she didn't seem like a bad person…so why? "Ultimo, why does Nee-san hate Asakura Hao?" I asked.

Ultimo sat up, resting his head on his knees as he pulled his body close to him with his arms. "She just came back to church one day saying that she had a vision from Kami-sama. Later she began saying that she found the greatest evil, and that that evil was Asakura Hao. But he must be evil, I mean, he wants to annihilate all humans, no sane person can ask for that, right?"

I stayed silent thinking this through. What would cause such a man to want to kill beings that were similar to him? The only difference being their ability to see spirits? Were humans that evil? When I was younger I saw in Nee-san's mind that one of our officials got killed by humans, they called him a demon for talking to spirits one night, they killed him right on the spot, no hesitation. "Hmm, I wonder…"

Ultimo gave me a quire look, "Joou-sama, you know _I _can't read minds." I rolled my eyes at that. "But I wonder also," he added, "why are they keeping us here?"

"Hormones," I replied without thinking.

Ultimo fell back at my response, obviously he wasn't expecting _that _answer, "What?!" he yelled in shock, his eyes huge.

"Asakura Hao is attracted to me," I simply said, "but that's normal, men think with their-"

"-Joou-sama!"

I stopped, talking to Ultimo was like talking to a child, you couldn't say any words that sounded repulsive or anything that had to do with sex, or body parts. "You're such a child," I muttered, he frowned and I ignored it, "anyway, I wonder why…?"

"Why what?"

I forget that other people cant do as I do and read minds, "Why is he attracted to me?" I wasn't stupid or clueless, but I could never understand men, I've lived with no men in my life except for Big Chief and Ultimo, what was it in women that men got attracted to?

Ultimo made a strange face as he pondered that question, "Joou-sama…" he began slowly, "have you ever seen yourself?" I raised a brow, "I mean like _really _looked at yourself in a mirror."

"What the hell kind of a question is that?" I snapped. "Of course I've seen myself, but that never answers anything, I hate what I see! Nee-san completely ruined me with these hell fire eyes! If Asakura Hao has a harem with his female followers well then he can just drop me off at the next cemetery, because over my dead body shall I be displayed as some kind of living man-toy!" That was it, all I said, I hated this body made by the Great Spirit, every Shaman Queen has looked like this before me, but never once have they had my eyes…the eyes that caused me sickly shame. Ultimo sighed and just stayed quiet the rest of the time. Silence came into the room once more and I was hoping it would stay, until a female voice scared it away.

"Why the hell is that blonde here?!" a female voice hissed harshly from the other side of the paper thin wall.

"Hao-Nii-san brought her here," a high pitched voice answered her, I recognized the voice, Arisu.

"Why?!" the same female from before answered.

I hated when I knew not who was speaking so I entered the one head that I had entered before, Arisu. From her point of view I saw the pink haired female she was glaring at her, and she wanted to kill Asakura.

'_Scary~~_' Arisu shuddered in her head, yet she was able to keep her cheerful and carefree exterior._ "She was being stalked by rapists, the same ones that murdered Savana."_

"_Savana had it coming_," the pink haired snapped to herself aloud,_ "she was weak almost as if she was a human."_

"_Those rapists sound more like humans to me," _another voice broke in. A door slid open to Arisu's left and there was the red headed Chinese female from before, her green eyes showed rage, but, unlike the pink haired, it was not towards Asakura Hao but towards the perverts._ "All men ought to be killed for their damn lustful thoughts, they all think with their parts belonging to men."_

"_Not every man in the world is that evil," _a male voice broke in, a soft yet strong and deep male voice that spoke polite but slower than most people, but not by much. It was when I first noticed that the unruly blonde male, also from before, sitting right beside of the pixie Patch.

The Chinese redhead turned to face the blonde, her curls bouncing as she did, her green eyes blaring hole with their glare,_ "But these men are evil," _she countered._ "Hao-sama had the chance to get rid of them and he left them alone, not caring of all his female followers that were being raped and murdered by them."_

It was Arisu's voice that spoke next._ "We don't kill just because we can. We don't have any right to take the law into our own hands. If Hao-Nii-san chose not to go after them then he has a reason, right?"_

"_I'm well aware of that, Ari," _the pink haired one snapped, _"but I would like to know why Hao just left those men alone. He could have at least taught them a lesson before, and he chooses to go after them to save that girl."_

"_You don't like her," _the blonde male stated, his face showing his amusement of the situation.

The pink haired rolled her eyes, her face showing her answer._ "She's in my way," _she growled, _"I don't care what happens to her."_

"_But I do," _said that familiar voice which I have begun to loathe with a passion, I felt my eyes narrow themselves at Asakura Hao as he slid the door open and entered, his face containing the smile that I wanted to slap right off his face._ "I find her very interesting, and I want to keep her. So when Ari showed those men going after her, what was I supposed to do?"_

I want to keep her? What the hell does that man think I am?

The pink haired female's eyes went wide_. "Fix it! You could have easily knocked some sense into those men long ago, killing them, and yet you left them alone until that girl was about to be raped by them?!?" _she looked like she would eat anyone alive, and I believed she would.

Asakura closed his eyes and smirked,_ "What do you want to do about it?"_

The redhead tossed her hair over her shoulder._ "Help me teach them a lesson."_

"……" Asakura stayed silent, finding amusement in the redhead's words.

"_What? You don't think I can do it?" _she snapped.

"_No, I'm just wondering why you're so adamant that these men are taken care of."_

She thrust her chin in the air._ "Look at us for once, Hao-sama. Really look at us_." She said, her hands pointing to the herself, Arisu, and the pink haired,_ "Every day we deal with men looking at us…thinking of us in __that__ way."_

"_You enjoy it," _Arisu stated.

"_I enjoy my beauty, and I may use it to my advantage, but that doesn't mean I give every men permission to have lustful thoughts about me. It doesn't take mind reading skills to know when a human man is aroused. More than that, these particular kinds of men enjoy it when the woman is afraid. It's about domination for them and I would gladly teach these rapists a lesson."_

"_How would you handle them?"_ the blonde asked in his master's place.

"_I think the best way to get revenge on them is to give them exactly what they want. Let them dominate me for a moment." _Her voice was like silk. She smiled up at the pink haired – a twisted and dark smile._ "Then I'll show them just how strong a woman can be."_

Asakura Hao chuckled_, "No need for that," _he finally announced. I was wondering when the idiot was going to announce that the perverts were dead_._

All three heads, minus Arisu's, jolted and turned to face their master,_ "What_?!" the pink haired hissed, in exclamation.

Asakura turned his back on them_, "Tao Rem got to them before I did, so no need to get revenge that was already taken."_

"_So you really did nothing," _the pink haired added, her eyes filled with anger as she crossed her arms in front of her,_ "did you even __think __of killing those men, Hao?"_

The blonde male stood up and began to dust himself off,_ "Does it matter? The men are dead, and Hao-sama is interested in the blonde, so leave it." _With that said, he left the room, leaving the door open for any others who were about to leave.

The red head lowered her formally crossed arms and left, her face seeming a bit calmer than before. That just left Asakura, Arisu, and the pink haired, who was glaring bullets at Asakura, she dropped her arms and walked past Asakura, stopping a little ahead of him,_ "She's an eye sore to me, Hao, you better watch over her good," then she left._

I left the mind of the girl and looked over at Ultimo, he too had heard the whole thing, and he let out a long sigh, _'You really think he won't kill us?' _he asked me in his head, worry filling all of the thoughts that came into him.

I turned to the wall and sighed, beginning to speak in a tone that only he would've heard me in, "I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn, and that we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them and help them in return." He stayed silent waiting for me to add my opinion, "Well I don't know if I believe that's true, but Arisu was expecting us so there has to be some reason we are here."

'_And what's the reason?' _he asked.

I shrugged, and let him in silence to find his own theory of it.

When I got tired of all the questions in his head I stood and walked over to the door, I _was _planning on staying in the room all night but I needed some fresh air and I needed it badly. I placed my hand to door, until it slid open on its own; I blinked and saw Arisu grinning at me with her blue eyes twinkling with the moons reflection. This girl truly was a pixie, "What do you want?" I snapped, I was a little outraged and felt kidnapped at the moment, I could try running away, the only problem with that was that I didn't have any clue how to get back to the café. Dang karma, it's my island, the one I oversouled with my own furyoku and I didn't know a part of it. Damn it!

The girl just kept smiling, the smile not even faltering to the slightest movement, but when her blue eyes gazed over to Ultimo I saw her flinch. I understood why though, this girl was the one that saw that vision of Ultimo, the one where they were griping his wires, tearing out his circuits. I shook my head no way did I want to remind myself of that horrible picture.

"Nee-san," the small girl said, I raised a brow and looked down at her, noticing for the first time that the top of her head reached my eyes. Ultimo was right, her height made her and her twin seem much older.

"It's Annaka," I said coolly. I didn't want anyone calling me Nee-san, as far as I knew I didn't have any younger siblings, my only family is Nee-san, Okaa-san died after giving birth to me and the only father that the Shaman Queens have is Kami-sama. A Virgin Mary, that's what Nee-san had called our mother.

Arisu blinked and repeated the name over and over again in her head, then she smiled, "It's cute," she commented, then she grabbed my arm, "Annaka-nee-chan, we wish for you to come with us to eat!" she looked at Ultimo, "And your brother too!" I felt a drop of sweat on my forehead, Annaka-_nee-chan?_ My _brother? _This girl… "Onegai~~" she said in a singsong voice.

I look over at Ultimo who was pretending to be asleep, Arisu followed my gaze, "Oh!" she said in realization, then she skipped over to him and began shaking him like crazy, "Oi, Nii-san!! Wake up!"

Ultimo jerked his eyes open, revealing his green, red pupiled eyes. The idiot couldn't pretend to be a heavy sleeper even if he tried, his gaze moved and met up with Arisu's eyes then he jumped and scooted away, "Kya!" he shouted, pointing at her in fear, "Y-you, you're one of Hao's followers!"

I rolled my eyes, but I just saw Arisu smiled, "Yes, I am!" she answered both happily and proudly, she blinked and before I could even protest she grabbed Ultimo by the arm and dragged him to the door, I saw her looking at him from head to toe before her eyes got really wide, "Wow~~ you're…you're really cute!"

…you're kidding me…

And the only thing that stupid robot did was blush…like the idiot he is. "Aho," I whispered under my breath. As the girl lifted Ultimo to his feet there was a rustle in the bushes and I heard laughter, unfamiliar laughter but the voice in my head was familiar.

"Ari-chan," the voice spoke up, "I really don't think Hao-sama would appreciate you torturing our guest," the voice laughed. I felt sick at the pit of my stomach, I didn't even want to turn around, I knew those thoughts. Those thoughts that were a strong memory in Nee-san's head, those thoughts that were filled with kindness and love for Nee-san, those thoughts…that belonged to Lysander Diethyl…

I lifted my head either way, and I saw his face for the second time in my life, no not the second, Nee-san's thoughts have always been filled with his face, she loved this man, but she'll never admit it, always saying that God is the only thing she'll ever love. Upon closer observation of the Lysander Diethyl's face, it looked like...he was male. A young English man, with bright green eyes and soft facial features, to be exact. If it wasn't for his voice, his stature, and the fact that he didn't possess anything resembling a swelling chest to speak of, a person who is not very observant would probably mistake him for a girl. But if you have keen eyes, by looking at him, you would say that he is, really, a young man.

His gaze got to my eyes, then his eyes widened, _'Those eyes…they remind me…of Joan…'_ as I thought…he likes Nee-san. His face recovered and he gave me a smile, Nee-san definitely chose the girlish looking ones, "Hello," he said, his smile not leaving his face, "my name is Lysander Diethyl, you must be tonight's guests, it's nice to meet you!"

I frowned, you really can't find any reason to hate this guy so easily, I should have known, Nee-san chooses them too well. "Arigatou," I replied, bowing. Until I found a reason to, I wasn't going to hate him…yet.

"Lysander-kun!~~~" Lysander looked down to see Arisu clinging to him in a tight hug, "Where have you been?! I had no one to play with!" she exclaimed. _'You were out looking at Maiden Joan again, weren't you…?'_

Lysander looked down at the pixie girl that hung from him, "Gomen Ari-chan," he hesitantly said, "But Morphine wanted to see an old friend, that's all!"

The small girl narrowed her eyes, as she looked on the British boy's shoulder at the pink fairy that sat there, _'Liar…' _she smiled, "Well if that's all then it's fine!" she turned to me, "Annaka-nee-san," she said, taking my arm, "we should go with the others now!" she began pulling me until, Lysander's hand grabbed her shoulder.

"Ari-chan I think they'll be more calm if I take them, your energy is scaring the kid over there," he said with laughter his finger pointing beside me, at Ultimo, who stared at the two shamans in front of us, knowing that this was wrong.

These two…they shouldn't be Hao's followers…

Arisu looked at Lysander before giving a smile and running off, I sighed, the only reason she left was because she was terrified of Ultimo…

I looked at my brother-like figure that sat on the floor beside me, he was confused, confused and really didn't want to know what was going on. Lysander Diethyl looked at both of us a smiled, "This way please…"

Ultimo got up and followed me as I walked behind Lysander Diethyl, we walk in silence for a long while, besides Ultimo's constant worry, _'Joou-sama, how are we going to tell Joan-chan? Lysander Diethyl is working for Asakura Hao! Ahh we're at Asakura Hao's property, Joou-sama what are we going to do?!'_

I shot him a look that shut him up, I had an itch in my hand that wanted to slap him, I was about to until I heard Lysander Diethyl speak up, "Ano…could I tell you something…?" he began to speak slowly…and very shyly.

"Nani?"

"Your eyes…their color…reminds me of someone…someone whom I love…" I raised a brow, why would he say that to me? Why was he being honest? He looked back at me and blushed, "Gomen!" he instantly apologized, "It's just…I've been really worried of her for a while now and well I…"

'_Dang, if Marcel heard him he would pull out his gun and aim it at his head…' _Ultimo commented behind me.

I rolled my eyes, "If you love her as much as you say, then why are you siding with Asakura Hao?" I saw him lower his head and give a nervous chuckle, I smirked, "My guess is that, unless that girl you love is also a follower of Hao then, the girl wouldn't approve much of your leader."

He raised his head as I finished and his voice sounded a bit sad and lost, "Hao-sama really saved me, Annaka-san," he began, looking at the sky that was just now reaching twilight, covering the sky in its amazing blue and black, "I lived with my parents before anything, I had a little sister named Diethylamide, my former surname was Ergoline, Lysander Ergoline, my sister was Diethylamide Ergoline. My father was a detective and my mother a doctor. Everyone in our town hated us because our family was so successful, they thought that maybe we were stealing our clients' money. They were mostly all jealous of our family's prize crystal, which was our family heirloom. One day the town had enough of us and they decided to attack us. They walked through town with torches and swords, they barged in our house and began to fight. My father told my mother to take us away while he fought off the mob, instead, my mother forced us to go to the second story to wait while she helped our father. We stayed up there, hoping that our parents would be alright, but we heard two gun shots and then we began to feel an increase in temperature. The mob set our house on fire, and Diethylamide and I were stuck on the second floor. We decided to jump out the window, I was making my way out the window when Diethylamide remembered the Ergoline crystal, she ran back after I told her to leave it, but as soon as she left the room there was an explosion that caused me to fall out the window and black out."

I stayed silent as he trailed on, allowing to see the images inside his head, while Ultimo just pictured them as he said them.

"I was sure I was dead when I heard the mob coming closer to my unmoving body, I had hurt myself pretty bad when I fell, I couldn't move and I was sure I was about to die. But as I finally saw the faces of the men in the mob, I heard screams, ear-piercing, glass-breaking shrieks. I saw fire surround them, turning them all to ashes before my eyes, after they all became black dirt I saw a figure standing in the middle of all the ashes. I had never seen him before but his long brown hair and fiery brown eyes caused his face to be imprinted in my head. He looked at me and said, 'Humans will never understand us, we are much too different from them, we are much better, but they'll never accept it.' He turned his gaze away from me and walked over to a pile of ash, dusting it away with his hand, then a shiny object was in his hand and he walked to me, placing the object in my pocket. 'Your sister wants you to keep that, so be sure not to lose it,' he told me. I didn't understand at the time what he meant by that, but I didn't have time to think about it either way, because I blacked out once more."

I didn't have to hear anymore because I knew what would come next. I've seen the story plenty of times in Nee-san's head as she remembered it every once in a while.

"When I woke up I was inside a church and I saw _her, _she was able to heal me and she left me a present before she left me asleep and left me. When I woke up I changed my surname to Diethyl in honor of my little sister, and I went out in search for the boy that saved me and the girl that cured me. The present the girl left me was this poppy spirit," he added, pointing to the pink fairy sitting on his shoulders, "I named her Morphine because she practically numbed my loneliness with her friendship, she accompanied me in my search for Hao-sama. Also…she reminds me of my little sister, because Diethylamide also loved to dance over the grass from dusk to dawn…"

I eyed the fairy he called "Morphine", her whole appearance was pink, different shades of it but still it was pink. She appeared small and charming, and I could sense her high sense of sight, hearing, and smell. She was none other than a tracking spirit.

"Um…excuse-moi…could you tell us more about your little sister?" Ultimo asked from behind me. I smirked; I knew where he was going with this.

Lysander Diethyl paused for a moment before he continued to walk again, keeping up with his story as he did. "Diethylamide was only six years old, she was very shy but charming to other people, but when it came to me she was extremely over protective, and she was always concerned with my revenge on those who picked on our family. She loved to dance outside of the house, and she loved to see the way father would track people down, she said that she wished to track as great as him. She was a good kid so I'm guessing that when she died she instantly went to the Great Spirit…"

I saw Ultimo shift his gaze in my direction, he knew as well as I did what truly happened. I opened my mouth and spoke, "You don't seem like someone who would serve Asakura Hao, I heard that all his followers were heartless and non-hesitant to kill."

Lysander Diethyl turned his head back and smiled, "Only when Hao-sama gives the order," he turned his back so that it faced forward, "I'm the newest of Hao-sama's followers so I'm the weakest and I'm more likely to hesitate, even Ari-chan has more guts than me." He laughed and kept walking before adding one more thing, "Though you might not want to seem interested in Hao-sama…"

I raised a brow, "Trust me, I won't. But either way, why the warning?"

The honest idiot kept quiet. So I just dug into his head. _'I really shouldn't have said that…but I want to give her a heads up on-well first we'll have to see if she stays…' _I sighed. His head was much too disturbed by other things.

We walked the rest of the way in silence, the place was big if I do say so myself, if most of Asakura's followers were dead then why the hell would the idiot need such a large residence?

Just as I was asking this we stopped in front of a door, where Lysander Diethyl knocked softly on it. The door slid open and there was the blonde male I had seen twice now in his native American pants. But now with such small distance between us I could see him better than before. The blonde male looked at Ultimo and I and gave a small nod, "Nice to meet you," he said in a slow but polite way. Lysander Diethyl gave him a nudge, and he blinked, "Oh," he added slowly, "I'm Emmetto Leiko, age 14…"

I felt myself raise a brow, _this _male of an idiot was 14? He looked older than I, physically and mentally, he was tall and lean, with a few scars on his upper body, faint but almost noticeable scars. He looked at me with a lazy expression, but yet his face did look mature, his eyes looked as if they were analyzing my every move, sensing, hearing, seeing everything I did. And despite that lazy but mature look on his face, his scars just screamed _dangerous. _And his spirit seemed just as dangerous as him, an enormous grey wolf with matching grey eyes that on his four paws was already taller than I.

"Emmetto-kun was Hao-sama's third follower," Lysander informed with a smile, then his eyes moved to gaze at the door across from Emmetto Leiko's room, "and Mina-san was his fourth." He added as he passed us and knocked on the door.

The redhead he called Mina didn't bow or nod when she saw us after sliding open her door, she just gave me a stern look and said, "Ming Wilhelmina, age 19." The way this stubborn girl said her age made her seem as if she was trying to tell me she was her superior, like hell if I would even think of thinking that way. Her green eyes shifted to Ultimo, who began to hide behind me, she raised a brow and then turned her attention to Lysander, "Bon fire?" she stated in a question that was not meant to be answered.

"Right," was all that Lysander Diethyl said in his kind but curt way. Ming Wilhelmina closed the door behind her and she stole one more look at Ultimo, her brows casually rising as he got a better view. _'Cute' _she curtly stated as if giving him a rank in her head.

Ultimo scooted closer to me, obviously the stories Nee-san told him of Asakura Hao's followers frightened him dearly, and he wasn't taking any chances. _'They're probably going to rip me apart Joou-sama! I saw it Asakura Hao knows I'm not normal!'_

I knew that Arisu knew Ultimo wasn't normal, Asakura also knew, the man can't block out the thoughts of others like I can, he has to put up with hearing the thoughts of everyone around him, something I could never do. But I wasn't going to tell Ultimo that I knew of this, the chicken would cluck back to Nee-san. I simply just pretended as if I did not hear his worries, I looked over to the three followers, "Don't waste my time," I ordered, "Take me to Asakura Hao."

A few brows raised themselves, and a pair of eyes narrowed, but hell, I wasn't about to be bossed by any of these lesser shamans.

"Such anger comes from this one…"

Three bodies froze in place, slowly and hesitantly they turned their heads to view the owner of the voice, I did the same. And there I felt my eyes grow…

It seemed as if I was staring into a mirror and looking at another version of my face, a version that consisted of short brown, silky hair and blank eyes that saw nothing…

I blinked and remembered seeing the orange clothing from before, _she looks like you…and my mother, _he said…so this was the girl he had been talking to before. Her blank eyes looked past me, for they could not see anything, then she lowered her head, "Wilhelmina," she called.

"Uh, shi-dei?" Ming Wilhelmina answered back.

The brown haired girl raised her head, "Let me see for a bit," she ordered in a stern voice. I raised a brow and I stared into her eyes, I saw as they slowly regained color and sense, and I saw a pair of chocolate brown orbs appear in the place of the blank sheets of white. Those eyes looked towards me and stared into mine, they looked from my eyes to my feet and back up. "Hmm, it's true," she said before the chocolate orbs disappeared into a sheet of white once more, she turned her back towards me, "These idiots are too busy chatting so I'll take you instead," she blankly said.

Leiko Emmetto turned to look at her, "Annai-sama~"

The brunette called Annai turned around, "No excuses, besides I wish to have a word with them." She her back to me once more before walking forward. My gaze turned to Ultimo whose wide eyes looked confused but yet it was him that took my hand and pulled me to the woods behind the brunette.

"Your friend is very strange," she spoke right after we were about in three feet of distance from her, "I sense no soul in him. He is a rather strange oversoul…or maybe…he could be something else?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Is that any of your concern?" I snapped. In reality this wasn't any of her business or Asakura Hao's, I just wanted to return to my quarters.

I heard her chuckle, a curt one but it was a chuckle none the less, "You'll be staying with us for a while so I'll make it my business," she snapped back, "Hao saved you-"

"And you expect us to stay here?" Ultimo asked his knees shaking as he walked.

"More or less."

"And who are you to tell us this?" I asked raising a brow, this girl had too much attitude to my liking it was as if I had found someone worthy of my snapping, someone who was a copy of me. A copy that I wanted to run away from.

"Oh?" she said innocently, an obviously fake tone that she was used to using, "You don't know? I was sure your red headed friend would've told you by now…or does he not have any info on me?"

Ultimo froze, completely stunned, he began to open his mouth, getting ready to say something stupid that would've proven her theory right. But I was ready to make her theory stay a theory. I placed my hand over his mouth, feeling him wince, noticing his eyes widening in realization of his almost stupidity. "I rather learn about a person from the person themselves," I calmly said, giving Ultimo one last glare before taking my hand off of his mouth.

The brunette stopped walking, a sudden stop, one that if it were a carriage in London it would have caused a wreck. She turned her body so that her front was facing me, a cold blank face stared at me, no expression leaving her perfect stone walls that was her visage. Her right hand was grasping a beaded necklace, a rosary, she pulled the rosary off her neck and large white orbs appeared around her…spirit orbs.

"I am Asakura Annai, the first itako of the Asakura household," she put her beads once more around her neck, the orbs fading into the oxygen and vanishing before my eyes.

"You're…married to Asakura Hao?" I asked although I knew the answer, the girl showed to much of a resemblance to Asakura Hao to not be his kinswoman, chocolate brown hair as fine as silk, tanish apricot for their skin, flawless faces…she was his descendent. But I found myself wanting to ask this, it seemed to me that normal people go about asking stupid questions, so why not do that to keep her a hypothesis just a small unproven part of her mentality?

"I could, but no I'm not," she replied curtly before adding something else, "I'd rather not view him in that way. Although, here, cousins can marry I'd rather not do such a stupid thing, it's disgusting."

There was something in her voice, a harsh tone, a tone that sounded as if she had gone through something similar before and although curiosity tugged me like a child asking for candy, I didn't invade my copy's head.

Strangers were not worth the headache I would get from trying to understand them.

"I see," was all I said. Silence hit us again, and it brought relaxation along with it, soothing my temper and all my other character flaws that I had had trouble with before. The outside was different at night, it was much more cautious, but yet it could calm you because you could hear things much easier in this way, though you could see nothing. Night time was the closest thing to being blind.

The only thing you could perfectly do at night was hear, and I heard all of night coming out of its slumber, and with it came a sound as soft as the wind a gentle breeze of warmth. Asakura Annai chuckled as she too heard the gentle blow of the sonority, "Hao seems to be happy again," she said aloud, "Maybe…" another curt chuckle left her, "baka…"

I saw smoke as we walked, it crept out from behind the trees as we made our way over to it, that high but gentle sonority still being heard, but only closer, it could be heard where the smoke could be seen, and soon enough we passed by the trees and I saw a large bon fire in the center of the grassy plains. And in front of the bon fire was Asakura Hao, blowing on a small and thin flute, beside him was Arisu dancing and twirling in the rhythm of the song, which I recognized to be the sakura song.

Both of them stopped when they heard us coming, Asakura Hao lowered his flute and brought it to his side, his back still facing us; Arisu twirled to face us, that innocent smile of a child plastered on her face, she skipped over to us, her movements were of those as if she walked on water or air, then she stopped and threw her arms around the brunette that had let us here. "Annai-nee-san!" she cheerfully said.

The Asakura girl pushed her away, "Don't touch me," she ordered sternly. Arisu pouted then put her arms around me.

"Annaka-nee-san is much nicer anyway," she said, then the pout left her and she smiled again, "So mina-san showed you, right?" she asked eagerly, "She's pretty, right?"

A drop of sweat rolled down Ultimo's forehead, and he cautiously took a few steps back, the idiot knew, I loathed compliments…

Asakura Annai walked over to Asakura Hao's side, snatching the flute out of his hand and twirling it around in her right hand. "She's not the least bit pretty…" she admitted. There was a sudden crack inside my chest, I felt the shock break through the composed mask on my face, followed instantly by the unknown feeling that I was sure was called hurt. Arisu let go of me and dropped her hands to her side, a snarl-like noise escaped her lips, Ultimo leaned forward, waiting to stop me if I snapped.

The female Asakura ignored the snarl that escaped the pixie girl's lips, "She's a blonde, red-eyed reflection of me," she added, "and in my opinion anything that looks like me is not attractive to the least."

I strangely felt better at once, the low self esteem of girls was a quire thing. "Oh," I said lightly, "self esteem issues," I mused.

Then _he _laughed.

He turned around and looked at me with humorous eyes, a smirk crossing his face, "To my knowledge, every female has that problem, I'm sure that maybe you do too?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Is that honestly any of your business?" I snapped.

"Honestly, I'm just curious, or you could take it as a rhetorical question and simply not answer it." His laid back character was annoying.

"Then I simply won't answer anything and leave," I said turning around, ready to disappear into the woods. But just as I took that first step, flames of fire rose in front of me and covered my path, Ultimo fell back to the ground and crabbed walked backwards to hide behind my cloak. I looked back to see Asakura Hao, smirk on his face, middle finger and thumb placed together as if he had just finished a snap, I narrowed my eyes then I felt a smirk appear on my face. I turned back to the flames and snapped my fingers, the flames disappearing with the friction that left my fingers. "If you want me to stay just give me a reason."

"Hao-sama!" a unison of voices yelled in worry. Through the bushes appeared Leiko Emmetto, Ming Wilhelmina, and Lysander Diethyl, all breathing deep huffs of air, most likely they had been running. I raised a brow as they all began to talk at once, their words just muffling and colliding with one another. Asakura Hao raised a hand and they silenced.

I turned back to face both Asakuras, Ultimo continued to hide behind me, his body shaking behind me in fear from the flames. "You know Asakura Hao there is no such thing as eternal life or eternal power, even if you were to become Shaman King you will only be him for 500 years."

He smiled and walked towards me, stopping only a few feet away from me. "You're very smart," he laughed, "not many people realize that in order to be the Shaman King one has to die during the ritual and be a powerful Kami-like spirit for the next 500 years of their rein. How would _you _know something like that I wonder?"

I narrowed my eyes, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I hissed.

"I've heard that a woman can only have either looks or brains, but never both. But you…" he smiled as he looked at my face, "you, on the other hand, are both beautiful and smart."

Ultimo's hand let go of my clothing and soft footsteps were heard behind me, I clenched my fist, "Don't play with me, Asakura," I warned.

He took the last few steps that caused space between us, and closed them, then his hand reached out and touched my cheek, "Who said I was playing?" he whispered.

"Hao!" someone yelled, before a plate of silver was thrown between us, Asakura Hao took his hand off my cheek and turned to look towards the woods beside us.

"Is there a problem?" he laughed as a figure approached and came out of night's cloak and appeared before the light of the bon fire. There stood the pink haired female I had seen before at his side, the pale girl with the long pink colored hair that reached her knees, and the dark eyes that matched it.

Asakura Annai appeared and stood in front of the pink haired girl, her back facing me, "Don't tell me you're jealous…Tamamura Tamao…"

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**Okay took me a while and I didn't want to go any further than that last bum-bum-dah-dum name but I didn't get to the 31 pages only 26, oh well.**

**Now I'm really happy, I got 21 reviews [counting those who reveiwed more than once haha] so ya'll deserved the YohAnna part in this chapter!!!!!!!!!**

**Well idk if I'm boring you with the arc but oh well, my story.**

**Now for the reviews!!!!!!**

**Usui_Pirika~~~** _updated!_

**I Am Tao Ren**- _Thank you & Tao Rem will be appearing in the next chapter so look forward to it!_

**Rosewell**- _hahaha here you go!_

**PinkanAngelTamao- **_absolutely right! How'd u guess? haha_

**KyaKyaNya-** _your patience has paid off_

**Boblove-** _thanks ur the only reviewer to wish me a happy birthday!_

**AnneCullen1**- _thank you hope u like the sidestory_

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**jade destiny- **_*sighs* very disappointing, but I really don't think ur the only one that does that…_

**djyxa- **_well if u review more than u can have more yohanna in almost every chapter of the arc_

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**Nightglider- **_Well here u go, review so u can have more_

**Remember 7 or more reviews & u can have YohAnna in the chapters!!!!!!!!**

**Crystel Hidalgo/YohAnna4eva**


	17. Hoshi no Kissu III

**[RANDOM A/N: if you were a God-class shaman with an ability what would you look like, what would be your name, and what ability would you have?]**

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**Yoh and Anna Side Story: "I Didn't Always Not Care"**

Yoh was silent, the whole room was silent, nothing could be heard except for Anna-chan's calm breathing. It was amazing how she could sleep so peacefully after all the things that had happened before she became unconscious, being a small child overall. But it was Anna.

"It's not as peaceful as it looks…" a voice came from behind him, he didn't have to turn around to see who it was, but the male voice startled him either way. Edward walked into the room a sketch book in hand, "I thought I would see you here," he looked around the room, "Where's Cadm? I didn't expect him to leave the room once."

"I convinced him to take a break," Yoh softly responded, looking straight at the ground, "He wasn't getting any sleep here."

"Well I'd do the same," the blonde male admitted taking a seat on the other side of the room, he took out a pencil and stared at Anna-chan as if memorizing every angle and detail of her pale and limb body. He looked at the sheet of paper and became concentrated in his work. "I wonder how it is…being inside her head…" Yoh raised his head to look at the blonde as he continued; Edward's head did not once raise itself to look at Yoh, his eyes always glued to either Anna-chan or the sheet of paper. "You know, being in a coma is similar to being in a long sleep, you can dream. I wonder if she is dreaming of yesterday's events. Or of some other events…"

This comment began to make Yoh wonder, of what went on in the young girl's head, his thoughts were interrupted by Damasu, who suddenly entered the room, his face falling as he saw the two males in the room. "Oh, I thought her to be alone…" he fumed in a mutter.

Edward stood from his seat and glared at his father, his eyes wanting to blare holes right through his body, "Like hell, I wouldn't let her be alone with you, unconscious out of all things!"

Damasu smiled and walked over to the bed, writing something down in some medical chart, "Unlike those thugs, I wouldn't place a finger on her. Though I'm surprised Edward, you are not mourning the loss of Misaka…"

"Mourning is pointless."

Damasu frowned, and looked back at his chart, "I see…well you must've at least heard of your mother's condition," Edward raised a brow, as so did Yoh. "She is beginning to lose her memory…" Yoh's eyes widened, as so did Edward's, his mouth dropped open and he couldn't believe his ears, but what stroked him hard was Damasu's next words, "The first thing she's forgetting is Anna."

---------------------------

Yoh felt weak, he felt like fainting any moment, as if he was going to fall into an eternal slumber. Ohachiyo looked up at him as they walked, "Was the news _that_ bad?" he asked at Yoh. Yoh looked down at him and sighed.

"Akiko-san is forgetting her, Ohachiyo, she's forgetting Anna-chan…"

Ohachiyo shook his head, "That's always one of the first signs…"

Yoh jerked up his head, "Nani?"

"When you start forgetting loved ones…it means you're about to pass on…"

The pain in the Shaman King's chest grew even more. Akiko-san…was soon to die. Anna-chan…was in a coma. Cadm…was soon to die. "Why does everyone have to die? Is it fate to make the ones close to Anna suffer?!" He was tired of it all! People dying, sickness, lies! Why did all of this evolve around Anna?! Why did she have to through such events!? It was unfair for her, for every Shaman Queen, for everyone as a person!

Ohachiyo closed his eyes as he continued to walk, "You know…a Shaman Queen's life outside of Mu is said to be chaos, they divert from the Patch belief, they form their own opinions, and step away from their birthly fate. The tragedies they go through are just tests to get them to be queen material, to be emotionless in deciding events or fates or seeing deaths, that is why they are only to come out of Mu when the Shaman Fight begins, so that they may become used to that."

"But…it's not right…"

Ohachiyo sighed as he and Yoh finally reached the door to Yoh's hotel room, "Life itself is not right, kid, we all should know by now…" with that, he disappeared.

Yoh sighed once more, he was leading himself to depression, but he did not blame Edward's reaction back at the hospital.

In his anger, the blonde Kyoyama had punched his own father in the face, yelling in rage, shouting out harsh insults saying that he must've drugged Akiko-san. If it hadn't been for Cadm coming in, Edward might have killed his father right on the spot. _'What is it with you always taking away our happiness just to feed your?!'_ he remembered Edward shout at the elder Kyoyama. _'Mom becomes happy by having Anna and now you wish to end Anna's life! She's not a demon! She's not some spirit, Otou-san! She's a kid! A kid!' _and then Yoh heard the words from Damasu's heart.

'_But she's not MY kid!!'_ Yoh, again, had seen another reason why his brother wished to kill off humans. They did not want what they couldn't understand; they wouldn't accept the more simpler or logical answer, no. They were greedy, only wanting to have what they knew, and finding out what they didn't know…by force…

Yoh finally got the strength to open the door and face Anna. He did not feel as if he could fool her, no, he _knew_ he couldn't fool her. But at the moment…thinking of his current Anna made him feel…better. Not ideal, but much better. He almost felt human again as he opened the door and stepped into the room.

Inside Anna looked up from her bowl of ramen, chopsticks midway towards her mouth, her eyes slowly moved themselves towards Yoh, only to be met by his eyes. They held their gaze for a few seconds, and in those seconds Yoh felt a big lump form at his throat for no apparent reason. No. He knew the reason. _She _was the reason. How was it that one person could go through so many painful events as a child and still wish to be alive in such a cruel world? Anna has seen so many die, and she was the cause of their deaths. As a child she had killed people, and had seen a pseudo-death experience, what was next? It was truly sad.

Tears to slowly form in his eyes, his throat became dry, and in his sadness he threw himself into Anna's unexpecting arms. He placed his arms tightly around her, holding her into a tight embrace. Anna slowly blinked and turned her head to look at Yoh's face, but she couldn't. His saddened face was resting on her shoulder, wetting her clothes, his breathing was slow but every now and then he would let out heartbreaking gasps. "Yoh…" she whispered in a dull tone.

She then heard him whisper into her ear, "If you're not going to cry, then I'll cry for you, Anna. It's the least I could do as I see what you've gone through…I'm sorry" he finally finished, the tears coming more and more, he couldn't even think of holding them back. No. He couldn't even think of it. Because he was crying for her.

Anna sighed and slowly pulled away, picking up her fallen chopsticks, "Yoh, this all passed and I'm over it. You too have to get over it."

Yoh stared at her, looking for any hint that told him she was lying. She was entirely serious. Anger suddenly entered into him, "How can you say that?!" he asked loudly, "Anna your childhood is-is-"

_**SLAP!**_

Yoh blinked, falling back onto the futon, cupping his swollen cheek, surprised that Anna had once again begun to slap him. He stared at her, she had her head turned away, not daring to face him, "I know how my childhood was, Yoh," she blankly told him, "Remember…it was _my _childhood, so stay out of it, cause you can't change it." She stood up from the small table and made her way to the bathroom, she stopped before she opened the door, and turned to look at Yoh. "Don't worry," she told him, "I didn't always not care." Then she closed the door behind her with a large _bang._

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Hao's P.O.V**

Tao Rem would appear soon, no doubt of it. He suddenly wanted her after seeing her attitude, her way of being attracted him as it did me. That girl was very troublesome…how pleasant. Right now the girl was in her new assigned residence, here, while I left her to supervise Emmetto's gathering of food. Yet for some quire reason my mind was wondering off, and not into the Shaman-only world I imagine when I close my eyes, but it was wandering to some unknown territory in my head. But of course there is always someone to disturb the exploration of your mind and this time it was Emmetto.

"So how fast was that?" he asked, dropping to the earth beside me, with three deer and a rabbit hanging from his shoulder.

"I didn't time you," I answered from my position flat against the ground.

"You said you would," he dully complained. '_That's why I didn't take my time…'_

"Did I?" I mused, as I laid back, crossing my arms behind my head and casually closing my eyes.

"You're taking the fun out of this, Hao-sama." _'I can't kill as much as I used to…'_

I chuckled lightly, "It's your little _fun_, Emmetto, that damages the very thing I plan on saving, Emmetto. That is why I come along to supervise, and also, the quiet clears my head and helps me think." And I needed to think.

"You're being all love-sick and depressed." _'I've never seen him this way…'_

How annoying this boy is… "I'm not all love-sick and depressed," I snapped casually. On the contrary. I was sure I was _not_ in love with the girl, or at least not yet, I was simply just stun by her beauty that naturally came to her, and her attitude kept me entertained.

"If you say so." But his mind mumbled in complaint, pointing out my frustrating behavior of the last few hours. _'In my opinion he should watch how he acts when Tamao is around, so far she's broken three silver dishes with her bare hands in her anger. Hao-sama better watch over her or else she might end up like those other girls that Tamao got rid of off her jealousy…'_

"You realize that since we're the only two sentient beings within four miles that yours is the only mind I can hear." I interrupted, I was clearly aware of Tamao's temper problems when it came towards her jealousy. I always wondered how she would be if she were a shy, quiet, and fearful girl…

"So?" he asked as he threw the dead animals to the ground, reaching into the pocket of his leather pants to pull out a knife, then bending down. _'You seemed used to hearing my thoughts, not just mine either, so what?'_

So? "So stop thinking those particular thoughts." Sometimes it annoyed me to hear thoughts, not only because I heard countless of pointless unsaid things but also because it reminded me too much of my loneliness. Yet with that girl…

"Yes, Hao-sama." It was quiet for a moment before scandalous images of Tamao came floating into my mind and I knew exactly from whom they came from!

"Emmetto!" I groaned and rubbed my eyes. "I really don't have any desire to see Tamao half naked."

"I know – and I thank you for that," he smirked. _'Even though she's willing to kill anyone countless of times for you, you push her away…it's like…she hates you for making her fall in love with you…'_

A love/hate relationship indeed…

"Emmetto," I interrupted him, not wanting to hear the usual, "was it not your turn to look after Ari?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

His eyes went blank, "No, it's Mr. Love-Sick-Number-2's turn…" _'You're number 1…'_

I laughed, "And would you be number 3?" I replied in humor.

"Possibly," he answered, as he moved on to the third deer that needed to be skinned, "I've noticed that you've placed me in charge of Arisu more than anyone, Hao-sama."

I rolled my eyes. This was not the conversation I wanted to have. "I trust you more with her." I simply stated. Which was not true. But I was tired of how depressed she has been thanks to Lysander's sickness…he caught the Joan D'Arc bug and there's no cure. But Emmetto seems to make her happy enough, so…why not place her in his care when I'm too busy?

"Why not put her in Nageheb's care?"

I sighed, "You know he doesn't like to be called that," I pointed out. Remembering the newest of my allies, known as Mr. Love-Sick-Number-1 in Emmetto's head, Annai's admire, a quite humorous, yet disturbing relationship to watch. Humorous because Annai thought of him as annoying, disturbing because I have loathed relationships between my allies since Emmetto and Tamao.

"Like hell if I care," Emmetto growled, "Ari's been under his care and watch so why not let her be under his care instead of mine?!" _'She seems to like him a hell of a lot more than me!'_

Adolescent minds are so filled with the dullest and tiresome scraps of information that I have often wanted to run screaming from wherever they came from. This case was no exception, seeing as how some of my most trusted allies seem to have grown fond of one another, more than I wanted them to, their minds would usually be creating all sorts of fantasies and daydreams. Every one besides Wilhelmina had one person that they kept in their heads 24/7. It was no surprise that the majority of thoughts eventually wandered into lustful territory at some point.

Now Emmetto's commotion over a silly little care over Arisu; it was absurd, really. What was the point? I had made my decision and my decisions were like law for them, yet he was going to keep this up.

I'll tell you why he doesn't want to be in charge of her, because she confuses him. She may be a year younger than him, but it seems as if her mind works ahead of his, and the way she's always cheerful often makes his heart pound hard against his chest once a day. Which he didn't understand seeing as how Tamao had been the girl of his eyes, since she had brought him onto my care. In his head, his heart responded more to Tamao then Ari. Though the biggest reason why he thinks Ari attracts him is because she reminds him of someone, who he used to love but now hates.

"My decision is final, Emmetto." I finally said.

'_Doesn't mean I like it. Ari's right you do need a companion.'_

"I never said you had to like it," I corrected, "And I never wanted a companion."

"Annai seems to think so," he added matter-of-factly. I raised a brow and he sighed, "Hao-sama, I may not have telepathic powers but I know when a man wants a woman."

I sighed and shook my head, trying to fight back the laugh building suddenly inside of me. "Why does everything have to be about-"

"Desires?" he finished. "You can't even think of that sort of thing can you?"

"I can, too," I assured. "I'm just more respectful about it than you are. You are still a child after all. You have not yet understood the meaning of respect towards women. Also…we are here to retrieve food for the hungry, not to discuss females."

"Why the hell would you discuss about us?" came my favorite familiar voice.

I enjoyed seeing Emmetto freeze and drop the pieces of animal that no longer had their skin, it was a reaction that almost everyone here in my residence had with Annai. And as she came walking through the trees, letting her senses guide her ever footstep towards us. Her stern face was kept blank, and she stopped when she was close enough to smell meat, and animal blood. "Hurry up and take those repulsive things where the bon fire will be held," she ordered. Emmetto, following her orders, sprang to his feet and carried the meat away, leaving behind the sliced off skin.

I snapped my fingers and let the skins burn under my flame, I went back to relaxing, the flames symbolizing the confusion that rummaged around my head. "Thinking again, huh?" Annai asked, as I heard her body lay itself down beside me. "You've been thinking too much to like my liking, Hao, what is it?"

I opened an eye, glad that she was leaving her mind at blank so I didn't have to have more of a headache, I sat up and rested against a tree instead of the ground, I looked up at the clouds and asked, "Did you ever want a companion?" I was being serious about the question, I remember wanting one before, but what I wanted was a friend. You'd think I would want a new mother figure but no, no one could or would ever replace my mother, my heart would never allow such a thing. And no one could also replace the two friends I've had in my life, Ohachiyo, whom my own selfishness led to his disappearance, and Matamune, whom I'd rather not think of how much I miss. But never once had I wanted a _female _companion, because I had always thought that that would make me weak and many could use her as an advantage, but then…that girl, why was I so interested in _her?_

I turned my attention back to Annai, and I noticed her face, for once, was full of hurt. Then a face flashed in her head, the face that caused her that pain.

Oh.

I remembered…

"That's a stupid question, Hao," she snapped softly. Then she stood up, I opened my mouth to say something but she interrupted me with her usual word, "Urusai."

"Hai," was all I said. Then I began thinking, but not about the stunning blonde, but about the Asakura that stood beside me, with her anger showing on her face. The one that looked identical to the blonde, the one who had probably been through more and caused her to lose her feelings, the one who used to smile…

By the time I escaped my thoughts, it was already getting dark. I stood and began to make my way back to my residence, letting Annai overcome her thoughts alone. Every once in a while I saw the beauty of the world at night, its creature, its plants, its very existence…and _this _is what reminded me, why I do what I do. Why I wished to kill heartless humans that destroy this very thing, and destroy anything and anyone just because they can't explain everything.

Ah those damn cancer cells…

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**Normal P.O.V**

Tao Rem sat at his throne, his mind far from where he sat, occasionally one of his zombie servants would interrupt his train of though and because of it, he would slice their corpse in half and leave them on the floor of the throne room. This time the large doors of the room creaked and opened themselves, and through them came out Tao Ju, her green eyes and face showing her to be very disturbed. "Nii-san," she said with rage in her voice as she saw the corpses lying on the ground, she wrinkled her nose in disgust and continued walking, "Your mind is troubled because of Asakura, am I right?" she asked.

The male Tao narrowed his eyes at that name, "What do you see in that man, Ju?" he hissed, coming down from his throne, and turning to grab his massive weapon.

"What's not to see?" the younger Tao asked, amused at her older brother's anger, "He's possibly the most powerful shaman on this island," Tao Rem glared at her, "After you of course, Rem," she added calmly. Then she followed her brother out of the throne room and down the hallway, "He could be very useful in our maintaining our strong bloodline, plus, he could help you become Shaman King."

Rem suddenly became angry and slung his weapon at his sister, but she did not falter, two extremely handsome zombies appeared in front of Ju and grabbed the spear before it could strike through her body. One of the zombies, one with long golden hair in a high pony tail with a sincere and gentle face, gently held out Rem's spear. The Tao snatched it out of his hand and glared at the two zombies. "Your new toys are good, very good," he admitted with force.

Ju smiled, "Thank you, Shu and Kyo are both brand new, handsome aren't they?"

Tao Rem rolled his eyes and turned his back on her, beginning to walk once more, "I couldn't say," he muttered as he walked.

Ju frowned as she followed her brother by only a few steps, "Why are you so troubled?! May I recommend acupuncture for you?"

"Shut up!" he ordered, slamming open the doors to the kitchen and walking by, ignoring all the servants of his household that bowed to him, he opened a curtain and finally came out to a balcony, and from there he looked out at the island that he resided in for the Shaman Fight. Ju gently pushed the curtain back and stared at her brother with annoyance. Tao Rem sighed as he looked up at the stars that twinkled in that starry sky; "Tell me Ju," he began, "why is it that that damned Asakura gets everything he wants, without even having to ask?" Ju blinked and looked puzzlingly at her older sibling, "He can persuade anyone to do anything, he can make people cringe in fear by just one look at him, he can control elements as if he were Kami himself."

"So?"

Rem turned around in anger, "_So?! _I want that power!' he announced furiously, "I want to have those abilities, I want all that he has!! But what I really want…"

Ju raised a brow, fanning herself with the fan that was in her hand, "Is what?"

The Tao turned his back to her and looked to where he could see Asakura Hao's residence in the trees, a small light could be seen there, and smoke faintly rose up to meet up with the earth's atmosphere. He narrowed his eyes, "That blonde…I want her."

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**Annaka's P.O.V**

Tamamura Tamao…this was the name of the female that from just one look at me had begun to hate me. Her deep and deadly pink eyes looked at me, glaring at me to their fullest. Surly this was one female that didn't care weather she likes you or not, but I was the same and this stubborn girl's gaze was annoying, _very _annoying. Asakura Hao chuckled at the intensity that came about in the air, "Tamao, are not going to greet the guests?" he asked in an innocent tone of voice that made me want to slap him upside his face.

Tamamura Tamao looked at him with harsh eyes of disbelief, "_What?!_" she hissed, at him, Asakura Hao raised a brow, she mumbled something that was inaudible to me, then she turned her face as if speaking violently to the flames, "Tamamura Tamao, age 17," she said curtly, then she closed her eyes and turned away, almost as though disgusted by my presence.

…the nerve of her…

I could feel Ultimo acting as my conscious in my head, telling me not to say anything to anger anyone, but hell if I cared! "Female bastard," I muttered loudly under my breathe.

A few bodies tensed, and one pair of eyebrows raised themselves in amusement, as for the pink haired well no one had expected her next move but Arisu, and thanks to her immediate vision I was able to know as well. Knowing what she was going to do, I pushed Ultimo out of the way, where he came crashing down on a tree, and as soon as that happened, Tamamura Tamao held up a slip of paper in the shape of a body, the paper began to glow, "You should realize your own place," she gravely said before the paper exploded as she yelled "**Shugen Kijin Shiekihou Gokugi Kamaizuna****!**" and from it came out the greatest power know to ascentic monks, a shikigami shugen, a God class oversoul formed by throwing away all material possessions and reaching enlightenment.

The Shugen flapped its large white wings and brought down it sword on me, getting ready to slice my body in two, but that damn thing had another thing coming. The thing was just several feet away before I opened my mouth, the words, "**G.S: ****Mu-Mu-Myou-Yaku-Mu**," escaping from my lips, and in that same instance I saw the tugen freeze, but not disappear…

'_Why'd she stop it?' _

'_Nani?'_

'_Phew, she was just kidding…'_

That's what the others were saying, but I knew better. That girl's mind was filled with cursing as to what I had just done, but, I must've not done it well enough.

"That's enough, Tamao," Asakura Annai ordered, grabbing the beads around her neck and, in one swing, wrapping them around the Tugen. From the side of my eye I saw Lysander Diethyl picking at something in his sleeve, his tiny spirit going into the sleeve as well.

Tamamura Tamao's eyes lit up into a raging pink fire, she swung herself on her feet to turn and view the female Asakura. "You have no right to call me by my name," she hissed violently, "I've told you what to call me-"

"-And I could care less," the brunette responded snapping her beads tighter around the Tugen, as if trying to release her temper as well, but extending Tamamura's to her limit. Tamamura simply glared at her and snapped her fingers, the Tugen turning back into that thin slip of paper. Then she turned back to look at me, her pink eyes glaring flames at me.

"You're an eyesore to me," she spat, "Don't get comfortable." With that said, she left.

My eyes narrowed themselves, and I heard Asakura Hao's annoying chuckle at the event. "She doesn't seem to like you," he stated, much to my annoyance.

I turned my back to him, "I could care less," I snapped, realizing I had just said the same words as the female Asakura, without looking at any of them, I walked over to Ultimo, and yanked him up by the arm, he dusted himself off and looked at me with fearful eyes, _'She was terrifying…' _I rolled my eyes. then I turned back to face Asakura Hao, "I don't honestly see anything of you showing to me that you're the next king. For the moment I can only see your grave."

His calm face changed when his lips curved upward into a smile, he closed his eyes, and turned his back to me, his long hair flowing with the wind as he did, "You may not see it now, but my abilities will prove themselves at the beginning of the fight. I'm sure you'll be very impressed and see the light in my abilities."

I bet. I looked at Asakura's followers, Leikos Emmetto, Ming Wilhelmina, Lysander Diethyl, Patch Priestess Arisu, Asakura Annai, and Tamamura Tamao. Six followers that, according to everyone, were on the wrong side, the side of a human-less world…idiots…

I noticed Arisu was looking right at me, her eyes looking worried. Beside her Lysander also looked at me and he spoke up, "Please don't worry, Rose-san is like that to all new members…" _'Hao-sama is interested in this girl…this is problematic for her…'_

Problematic for me? More like problematic for the idiot and all of his followers. Though another thing bothered me, had he just called Tamamura Tamao Rose? Or was he referring to another "threat" I had to worry about. At the moment, I didn't care, ignoring Lysander I just turned back to look at Asakura. "Since I seem to be held captive, I'd like to know why."

"I'm sure you know why," was Asakura's response.

Hormones. And a lot of them, men really only could think with their parts. "I'm sure I do." I muttered in disgust, "What an honor then," I smirked, "So are you going to throw me in a harem with these other females you have?"

He closed his eyes and laughed, "Haha, do I look like that type of person?" he asked in humor. And yes, he did actually. "Actually I respect you a lot. And I really hope you can join me in the Shaman Fight, surly you'll be useful."

Beside me, I felt Ultimo freeze into shock. And I narrowed my eyes, "What do you mean?" I asked gravely. Did he really want me to join him? Did this calm and annoying idiot break through my shield? Did he know who I was?

No. He couldn't have. All he did was smile, "I'm sure you've heard of my purpose in becoming Shaman King," he said to me as calm as ever, "And my dream hasn't changed."

"So you want Joou-sama to help you?" Ultimo asked worriedly behind me, shaking in fear, "What do you need Joou-sama for, Asakura Hao?!"

"Joou-sama?" I heard Ming Wilhelmina say in angry confusion, she gently tossed back a mess of red curls behind her shoulder, "Queen of what?" she asked, her voice showing her disapproval.

Ultimo immediately covered his mouth, realizing his mistake, _'Oh no, I just gave away valuable information on Joou-sama!'_ he looked up at me with stupid eyes representing that of a child, _'I'm sorry Joou-sama!' _

I looked at him and sighed, he was a child after all. I placed my hands on my hips and walked forward towards Asakura, "Why the hell should I help you? Okay that's enough, tell me what the hell you want from us." Once again I felt Ultimo freeze in place once more at my words. _'Joou-sama~~~'_ I ignored his pleases and kept my stand, this guy was really annoying, and I was starting to loathe him with a passion.

"Hahaha, what an attitude, you _do _act like a Queen," Asakura laughed, his smile making me want to slap it off his face. That smile remained on his face even as his face became calm, but this time it was a soft and gentle one, "I like you," he said, and for some reason I felt something pound hard against my chest, "Even if you don't decide now…whenever you want help, I'll be here for you…Joou-sama."

I felt a vain pop around my temple, the idiot was making fun of me. "My name…" I began as I felt my hand itch, then my arm lifted itself up, "-is Annaka, you AHO!" just as I was going to bring my arm down to smack that grin off of his face, he grabbed my wrist, the sound of the impact could be heard for miles away from where it came from. And for the first time, since Nee-san stole my emotions, I felt shock and horror.

Asakura Hao…stopped my slap…

Then I saw him raise his hand up as well, and he slammed it down on the tree behind me, right next to my head. "I'm actually _very _interested in you, suited to be the Shaman King's wife even, but then again…the Shaman King _will _be me."

That thing in my damn chest began pounding like crazy for no damn reason, what the heck was pounding in their anyway, my heart?! No…my heart wouldn't pound for this…this…cocky bastard!

I noticed something very interesting though. One of my legs was right in front of his area, one quick movement and…

"Hao, enough games," Asakura Annai ordered as she placed a hand on his shoulder. The damned Asakura let go of me and moved himself away from me, Ultimo came rushing over to where I was, his eyes showing guilt for being able to do anything. What could he have done anyway? This man was The Asakura Hao.

I pushed myself forward with one arm, pushing back the hair that was on my face, "Of course I'll be Shaman Queen," I muttered softly to myself, Asakura Hao looked at me and raised a brow, "I'm positive," I said in normal tone of voice, "that someone _will_ defeat you for sure." I turned on my heels and began walking, "Come on Ultimo, this bon fire is over," I ordered.

Ultimo followed close behind me and we headed in the opposite direction from where Lysander had brought us in. I stopped for a brief moment while Ultimo went ahead, then I let go of my shield for a second, long enough to hear Asakura Hao's voice enter my head.

'_Annaka, huh?' _his voice mused inside of me.

My eyes widened…when did I-?

'_My name…is Annaka, you AHO!'_

I closed my head and rubbed my temples as I walked, "Idiot," I muttered to myself as I headed back to the room assigned to me…

----

I couldn't sleep, how could I? That idiot was able to block one of my movements, something no one in my life had ever done, even if it was something as simple as a slap, he still…

My mind was feeling claustrophobic in that room, so I left it and sat where I was on the outdoor wooden hallways. Then could I think clearly. Asakura Hao…that man was truly powerful, his furyoku was higher than any shaman I have ever sensed before…and he didn't use any to stop my slap…Asakura Hao…how much furyoku did he really have?

"Annaka-Nee-san…" that familiar high pitched voice called out. I turned my head to the left and saw Arisu coming behind the female Asakura. She peeked from behind Asakura Annai's orange kimono and gave me a worried smile, "don't be mad, Onee-san, Hao-Nii-sama just-"

"-Don't try to clear anything up, Ari," the female Asakura interrupted, "she knows."

I narrowed my eyes and turned my head away, "If you come to bother me then I suggest both of you leave." I ordered, I've had enough nuisances for one day, I didn't need anymore. Yet I heard movements and when I turned to look, Asakura Annai was sitting right beside me, a cup of green tea in her hands.

"You're annoyed by his power am I right?" she asked me, taking a sip of the tea casually. She acted as though we were commenting on the weather, as if this type of conversation happened all the time in one's life.

"What makes you think that?" I asked just as casually, it was truly no ones business to get into my life.

"I might be blind, but I can sense you anger and expression, besides…" she paused and brought the cup to her mouth, closing her eyes as she sipped the liquid into her mouth, then she opened them and pulled the cup away, "His power also…used to annoy me." I raised a brow as she continued, "His carefree personality once lead me to believe that he had never trained before, that that power was just through his bloodline, but I was wrong. The idiot had spent 400 years training in hell, his motivation and dream of a human free world caused him torture, torture that led him to become as strong as he is."

"Humans, shamans, what's the difference?" I asked dully, staring up at the shining white moon that illuminated the night, "The only difference is the ability to see spirits, the worth of one's life shouldn't be decided by spiritual ability, but weather the person is good or bad."

"Humans are hateful things." She snapped back in disgust, "They quickly become corrupt, they betray, and lie. They hurt the other living things around them, such as this world and those who have the spiritual ability to see spirits. They destroy what they don't understand, and if they see something they want…they'll take it by force until they have it…"

I looked at her face, and her expression told me that behind that last sentence said there was something deep within her. These people…did they hate humans for personal reasons?

"Nee-san," Arisu's voice piped up softly, interrupting my train of thoughts, I looked at her and she had that same sad smile from before, "Don't be mad at Hao-Nii-sama, he really wishes to help this world…just like he's helped us…"

I violently stood up, "How the hell has that guy helped you?!" I snapped in anger, no…in rage. How a man as vile as Asakura Hao had _saved/helped _anyone I would never believe. That man has killed many for no damn reason other than to suit his motive in getting rid of his opponents. He was no savior or saint, he was mad!

Yet this small pixie-like girl looked at me with sincere eyes, her face looking both angelic and mature of sorrow, she looked away and looked at her hands, "It's personal…and different for each of us, but surly if you get along with most of us then one day we'll surly tell you."

The last thing I wanted to do was getting along with these clueless beings, I was about to say this aloud until I heard a rustle in the bushes, then to my surprise I saw the female Asakura freeze as if in shock. "Shit," she muttered, "He's here." It didn't take long until I realized who _he _was but in an instant I saw Arisu's sincere eyes disappeared and turned into big blue orbs of childish joy, she jumped up and launched herself into the bushes, screaming in childish delight.

I looked at the brunette beside me as she stood up, her face looking extremely annoyed for unknown reasons, "I better get out of here," she whispered to herself. That's when I heard male-like laughter match Arisu's childish joy. "Dammit," Asakura Annai muttered angrily, _'Too late.'_

From the bushes there was another rustle and from it a figure began to come out of it, it was a male and a very familiar one too. I wasn't surprised anymore at Hao's allies being people close to the Shaman Fight, so when I recognized the long pitch black hair, and blue eyes with the Patch uniform, all I could think of was how many people have deceived Nee-san. Arisu had her arms around Nagehiko pretty tightly, as if it was some kind of brother-sister bond between the two, Nagehiko didn't seem to mind the small pixie hanging off of him, but one thing did surprise me, and it was when the male Patch looked at the female Asakura.

First I saw the blood rise to his tan cheeks, then I heard a loud and rapid pounding sound against his chest. Arisu too must've noticed these signs because she smiled knowingly and let go of Nagehiko, which was when, in a flash, he ran up at an amazing speed and wrapped his arms around Annai. "Annai-chan!" he said with a boyish grin as he held her in his arms.

If I could have, I would have laughed at the scene, but I couldn't, so I simply stared. Asakura Annai began pushing against the male Patch's chest, "Let go of me, right now!" she ordered in a harsh hiss, but Nagehiko wouldn't, "Nagehiko!" she growled in rage as he rested his head on her shoulder and then, to my surprise, he became unconscious and fell on top of her. "Get off of me, baka!"

Arisu's eyes went wide, "Nagehiko-Nii-san!" she yelled as she ran to him, rolling his unconscious body off of the female Asakura. She blinked as she saw a small wound on his chest, Nagehiko began to open his eyes, groaning in pain, Arisu sat up, "What happened?!" she asked.

"Complications," was his response, "I sort of…killed a man."

Asakura Annai sat up and crossed her arms as if she could care less, yet she opened her mouth, "Congratulations, you're one of us now," she sarcastically said. Nagehiko looked at her and gave her a boyish smile.

It seemed as if it took Arisu several minutes to recover from the news, she sat there with her blue eyes staring at him in disbelief, "Why?" she whispered in question, "Why would you kill someone?! Nagehiko-nii-san, most of us have killed someone you didn't have to join us in such way!"

Asakura Annai shook her head in annoyance, "It can't be helped, Ari," she snapped, then she turned her head, "What was the fight of?" she asked Nagehiko.

He slowly began to stand, balancing himself on his knees, "Nothing that would concern any of you," he replied, his knuckles tightening, making me think it did concern them, "but I killed him either way, damn Romanov." He finally straightened himself and he finally looked at me and his eyes got wide.

I rolled my eyes, these expressions are getting old. I lowered my shield and I noticed there was something different in the reason behind his expression. _'Those red eyes…that furyoku…this girl couldn't be…' _I immediately put my shield back up, I saw it, he had seen it. He had seen my eyes when he loaded us on the carriage to make our way around the island. Damn him.

"I'm sure Rose didn't take this too well did she?" he asked, his eyes wandering to me as he said 'this'. I raised a brow at hearing the name 'Rose' again. I narrowed my eyes at him and he turned his gaze away from me, turning to look at Asakura Annai.

"Tamao can get over it," Annai snapped, "Jealousy is not a very unique trait in a lady."

Arisu was silent in this conversation, she just looked from Nagehiko, to the Asakura and back. _'These two fight on forever. They're practically fighting like a married couple. Though Tamao did seem madder than she usually is…oh Nagehiko-Nii-san and Lysander-kun had called her Rose today, meaning that they still are merely acquaintances…Tamao did seem a bit mad at Annai for calling her by her name…they'll never get along will they?'_

Without even realizing she had given me an answer to something I had been pondering for a while now. Diethyl Lysander had called Tamamura Tamao 'Rose' as so did Nagehiko. Everyone else called her formally, meaning that the newer members were Diethyl Lysander and Nagehiko, or maybe she didn't let those whom she hated call her by her name. If that were the case…that girl…she was as stubborn as a demon.

The female Asakura turned her back to the male Patch, "No," she answered to a question I had obviously missed in my own curiousity, "You're a nuisance, go away," she ordered sternly.

All of you are a nuisance to me, I wanted to say. I wished to leave right now. But how could I, if I didn't know where to go, it was like walking in pure darkness, being lost with no way of knowing where to go. I got up from my position and turned around, heading for my quarters until Arisu's voice came in, "Nee-san, are you hungry? You didn't eat at all-"

"Leave it outside," I sternly ordered. Not stopping my walk until I made it safe in my room, I slid the door behind me, and sighed. Food…just another thing in my life I have lived without, as part of a purifying ceremony I am to fast everyday, no food, just water. I had never known how it tasted, but I knew humans couldn't live much without it…but then again…I wasn't human.

As I rested my back against the door and slid my way down to the floor to sit, Ultimo stirred and gazed at me with his quire eyes, he opened his mouth as if to ask what was wrong, but I just glared at him, and his mouth closed itself once again. _'She seems so…disconnected! I wish she would just smile.' _I heard him wish. I narrowed my eyes and glared at the floor in anger, this was all Asakura's damn fault. That man was like a plague! I couldn't get his face out of my mind. The look of amusement on his face when he saw my glare, was a nuisance, a large one. Attitude seemed to be something he enjoyed to see.

The stubborn bastard……

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**Hao's P.O.V.**

What made living so special? Why was it that when you threatened one's life they would always say they wanted to live? Waking up every morning to me seemed like waking up in hell, and I knew what that was like. I was walking along the outdoor hallways of my residence, stopping before the door of a certain room, my eyes wandered the edge of the door, where four silver plates sat there, full of food that was uneaten.

I sighed. Is this girl planning on starving herself to death as a form of protest? How uncouth...

I continued with my walking, making my way past Wilhelmina's room, Emmetto's room, when I got to Lysander's room I saw him placing his shoes on his feet, his face containing that same expression he has when he is thinking of _her_. "Going to see Stubborn-sama?" I asked. He winced at my presence and looked up at me in surprise, his eyes showing a bit of shame of his intentions for today.

"I'm sorry Hao-sama, but…Annaka-san's eyes reminded me of Joan…"

I sighed. This man was too honest. He was like an open piece of literature that read what it had written. I didn't mind this, but whatever was in his head he would repeat it through his lips, and I hated repetition. I turned my back to him and began walking away, "Do as you wish," I told him, "I'm in no mood to handle such situations today." I found myself pausing before adding, "But _you'll _be the one explaining your absence to Ari." With that I walk on. Emmetto had a point yesterday morning, I _didn't _trust Diethyl. I didn't trust anyone for that matter except for maybe Annai and Ari.

Annai has always reminded me of a younger version of my mother, minus the hair and missing of her vision, but the rest was exactly like her. As for Ari…well her story was too long to tell, at least, for the moment.

The waters of the river was cold, which fit the purpose of cooling my head perfectly, I immediately felt relieved. Bathing this always cleanse one's mind after all. And it was very clear, until I heard a twig snap for no apparent reason, to my surprise I heard no thoughts in that area. No animals thinking of coming near, no human or shaman thinking of what was ahead. Nothing. That to me meant one person. _Her._

"If you wished to see me naked you could've just asked," I said aloud as I heard a body tense in the few feet of distance. I smirked and closed my eyes, "Did I startle you, Miss Annaka?" I asked, wondering if I really did.

Her face came into view now, and her blank façade changed when she realized I was bathing. How amusing to see those wide crimson eyes stare at me and those smooth-like lips open in shock, it seems I _had _startled her. I chuckled softly, "Seems I'm in an uncompromising situation," I drawled.

"You look as if you don't have any care in the world that a young woman is seeing you naked in a public river." She stated coldly, regaining her previous composure.

"Well, if it's you then I don't mind," I admitted. "Do you want to join me? It's big enough for the two of us."

Her face changed once more, blood rushing to her face and making it a light pink instead of its usual pale peachy color I've seen, "What a hentai you are, Asakura," she spat out coldly.

I laughed, "I am just a man, most think this way." And if he doesn't then I question his sexuality…

But to be honest who wouldn't think like this about her? She was unnaturally flawless, even with those flaming blood colored eyes her face had beauty, every angle and detail was in place, as if carved by Kami's own hands, a carving that took years to perfect. And as for her body, that took the breath out of me. She was not wearing that loose cloak she had on yesterday but she was wearing a black sleeveless dress that belonged to Annai, which was the only thing we could find for her to sleep in. Wilhelmina's features were much too big, Ari was too small, Tamao wouldn't let us borrow anything to give her, and Annai was the only option left. It was a night gown, as Nagehiko called it, Patch women used it to sleep, he had given Annai one but she had not once used it.

But it fit Annaka all too well…

"I've noticed all men think that way," she spoke up, "you are all filthy beings."

"Harsh," I mused, but frowned for a moment as I pondered the reason behind her words, "personal experience with suitors? Husband perhaps?" I dared to ask.

She blankly looked at the ground, "You ask as if I've had many men in my life, or as if I am not of virgin," as she said the words a frown came upon her face and I ached to get in her head.

"Are either of them true?" I asked, noticing that I was getting a bit too interested in her personal life.

She looked aghast at the thought, "No. Why the hell would one think that of me?"

"Why would I _not _have reason to think it?" I implied.

Her eyes narrowed at me, I had made her mad, but for some reason I found her anger attractive as if it was luring me in slowly. "What the hell are you implying?" she hissed.

I sighed, would she really think I would sink so low as to think something like that? "It's not what you're thinking," I assured her, she was definitely no prostitute, "it's just…over the years I have found that beautiful women have…" how could I word this? "Complications."

She raised a brow, "Example?" she asked. Now _she _was getting a bit too personal.

I chuckled at her sudden curiosity, but I knew just the answer to give her for her question. "Wilhelmina," I said, "is not a virgin."

She rolled those round rubies and looked at me, "I wouldn't have guessed," she said sarcastically. I knew what she meant by that, Wilhelmina's appearance attracted men as if they were vultures looking for the best food. But I was not about to let this girl misunderstand where I was going with this.

"But she didn't chose not to be," I informed.

Her eyes grew, she had not expected that to come out of my mouth, "You mean…" she had an idea of what I meant.

"That situation you were in yesterday," I explained more thoroughly, "the man went all the way with her, then he beat her and threw her out into the streets, where the situation happened again with a group of four men, they left her there to die."

Silence took over a bit too quickly, she was in shock, trying to process those words I had told her. Her eyes had hardened and guided themselves down to stare at the ground, blocking me from even guessing of what was going through hr head. Finally I saw her eyes rise and her lips pursed together into a thin line before parting, "Well I can assure you I am completely untainted," she assured me, her blank façade reappearing on her face.

I closed my eyes and smiled, placing my hands on the grassy land in front of me, "I find that very hard to believe," I admitted smiling at her angered expression, "But," I added, "if that's the case then please close you eyes." she raised a brow at me and to my surprise she closed her eyes, not only that but she sat down on the grass and turned her head in the other direction, as if she knew what I was going to do. I slowly raised a brow, was she beginning to trust me or just starting to mock me? Either way I raised my body from the waters and slowly made my way over to where my yukata was laid out on a nearby boulder, quickly grabbing it and tying it around me, turning back to Annaka.

I realized her eyes were opened, though they weren't looking at me, they were staring, practically glaring into the woods, she was troubled by something. She noticed my gazed and turned her head to look at me, then her eyes narrowed, "What?" she demanded to know.

I closed my eyes and chuckled, making my way over to her, but stopping two feet in front of her, then kneeling down to her, our eyes being on the same level. "You're troubled," I told her, "I'd like to know why."

"And I'd like you to keep your distance," she said harshly, her eyes pointing out how extremely close I was to her at the moment.

I smiled and stepped back another foot, "Your turn," I said with humor. She glared at me and kept her mouth shut, ignoring my humorous demand. I stood up and turned my back to her, "Well have it your way," I said, "I won't try so hard to get into that beautiful head of yours, the silence of it is actually quite comforting." With that I began to walk away until I heard her thoughts leave through her lips.

"Arisu said that almost everyone of your followers had killed someone…" she finally asked, her tone not one I appreciated, it was accusing, enraged, and bothered by the opinion she considered a fact. I looked back and noticed her eyes looked at me in a way that they matched her tone of voice.

I couldn't help but to laugh, she was worried over a few worthless lives of those who have damaged our lives, how stupid, yet I found it so humorous. My laughing stopped and I saw her glaring holes at me, she was annoyed, and _really_ wanted an answer. I smiled to myself and looked at the morning sun before I answered her, "You know, Ari gives us more credit than we need."

A brow raised itself on her face, "What do you mean?"

"_All _of us, but Ari, have killed someone," I looked away from her as I said this, so she could not notice the smirk that crept up my face, but I could feel her gaze on me hardening. "But she was about to, back when she was younger, but you won't hear it from her…ever." I added.

"Tell me." She ordered.

I sighed as I remembered the story and told it to her just as I remembered it, and it was an entertaining and bothersome story to remember, if I recall correctly. "Have you ever heard of the Molina?" I asked her as I tried to think of a way to begin this. She shook her head, and I chuckled, "You must be human not to have heard of them," I mocked, she narrowed her eyes and I continued. "Humans do not know of them, at least not yet, but they are the largest clan of shamans after the Patch tribe. This is why the two are rivals, the Molina want control over the Shaman Fight but the Patch have always been the ones to control the will of the Great Spirit." She nodded, showing her understanding of the situation.

"The Molina have the despicable idea of turning humans into shamans in order to one day be in control of the Great Spirit, their theory is simple. Capture humans, have them in a divine near-death experience, then if they do not have a shamanic ability they kill them right on the spot."

I didn't care as much of the fact they were killing humans, it made my job easier, but what disgusted me was the fact they would even think of turning a bunch of damn humans into shamans. Made shamans were just as useless as humans.

"Big Chief's daughter had triplets thirteen years ago," I went on, lying on my back and crossing my arms behind my head, "a boy and two girls, the boy died," or at least that's what Big Chief believes, "Arisu and Arrison were left. While during their younger moments Arrison showed the shamanic ability to manipulate and use any weapon, in the Patch's eyes Arisu didn't prosper in any ability. In Big Chief's rage he came up with a plot."

A plot that gives me a reason to kill him.

"While Arrison was in Switzerland being taught to take better control of…_her_ ability, the Patch sent Arisu to Spain with the supervision of a Patch named Nadeshiko. Arisu believed she was simply sightseeing, she was a child after all, her mind was naturally foolish. They looked around the town of Segovia, the new residence of the Molina, they heard someone playing the rebec with a harmonious tune. Ari was astonished and pulled Nadeshiko over to where many watched a woman play, the woman noticed Arisu from the distance and stopped playing, and she jumped down from the platform and walked over to her, asking her and several other children to follow her. For some reason, they followed her without thinking it over twice. She led them to a cathedral that was being constructed; there they were greeted by a man named Haro, leader of the Molina. Ari immediately caught his eye, he had seen her physical traits before…"

_The man Haro, as the female rebec player called him, came out of the shadows that hid him, he looked like a noble Spanish man, with long, shoulder-length, extremely straight dark brown hair, that could be mistaken for a lighter black, and violet eyes which seemed lighter with his light olive skin but yet dominated his face. He looked over Arisu and grinned almost entirely too cheerfully. "Well isn't _this _a surprise!" he yelled in excitement, "You are most definitely a stunning child now aren't you?"_

_Arisu looked back towards where Nadeshiko stood, Haro followed her gaze, noticing Nadeshiko among the other children around, he smiled before turning back to Ari, saying, "Oh you must be shy with all the attention given on to you," he said, then turning to the rebec player, "Salome, take the rest of them to the music room and get Feliciano to test their…vitality in music."_

_Salome nodded and smiled to all the younger children, she took several by the hand and began to walk, leading them down the hall, Nadeshiko caught her eye, "Y el?" she asked in her native tongue. Haro looked at him and smiled crookedly, talking to Salome with his eyes, she nodded and led him down the hall as well. Haro turned his gaze back to Arisu, his eyes sparkling with glee. He walked over to her and bent down._

"_Tell me, pequeña," he began, "What potential do you have?" Arisu blinked at the question, "You look a shaman to me," he mused, "Is my assumption correct?" Arisu kept quiet, looking back down the hall to where Nadeshiko was taken away from her, her face began to show worry and much eagerness to leave. Haro sighed in disappointment and began to rise as he spoke, "It'd be a waste to kill you, niñita…" Arisu's head jerked to look at him, her eyes extremely dilated in horror. Haro turned around and began to make his way up a stairway to sit on a large golden throne with a large 'M' on the top of it, he bent back and sat on the throne his expression a fake troubling one, "Well there are ways I can find out," he smiled maliciously and looked behind him at the shadows behind the thrones, "Jasparo," he called behind him, "Me ayudas?"_

_From a large entrance behind the golden chairs in the shadows came out a boy with unruly honey blonde hair, with a tall and lean figure, and light, almost periwinkle-grey eyes. He seemed to be a few years older than her, around fifteen maybe, Ari was only ten, but her height would confuse many. Jasparo, as Haro called him, step forward even more, his face was cold and stern as if he was about to murder her with his glare. _

_Arisu began to take light steps back, when she saw Jasparo take another step, about to descend down the steps, she turned around and began to run._

_Jasparo looked at Haro, who gave a gesturing nod, the honey blonde male jump from the stepped platform and ran after Ari. His speed was incredible, faster than any bear or tiger she had ever seen run, it was as if he had been behind her all along, never moving from a spot within arms reach. When he was a foot behind her, he grabbed her by the arm, jerked her around to view him and then slammed her to the ground on her back. Arisu struggled to get free but Jasparo had her pinned down by her arms and towered over her. Finally Ari opened her lips, "Let me go! Let me go!" she shouted in her high pitched voice. _

_Haro blinked at the sound of her voice, it was so angelic, so pure and full of innocent beauty, like that of a child, "What a magnificent and godly tone of loveliness…" he muttered to himself in analyzation. Jasparo also seemed stunned, at hearing her voice he let out an almost inaudible gasp, to distract himself he looked at Haro for the signal to continue with his assignment. Aro smiled. "Go ahead," he ordered._

_Ari's blue eyes got wide and she began to squirm some more, she closed her eyes when she saw the blonde's eyes grow vicious, but she yanked them open when she felt his lips pressing fiercely against hers. The blood rushed to her head and the temperature of her body increased. When she tried to move she realized she couldn't, the male's body was on hers, his arms were no longer pinning her arms down, but holding the sides of her face. She shut her eyes tightly, trying hard to yank her head away from his lips, it had only been two seconds till she felt him suddenly jump, as if an electrical current had struck him, which is what happened. His eyes flew open and suddenly he felt different, hungry, but not for food, he felt hunger for her lips. His tongue forced its way into her mouth, familiarizing itself with the new territory it was in. Tears filled Ari's eyes, Jasparo's lips left hers and were now making their way down her neck and back to her lips. A ball formed at the pixie girl's throat, she was about to scream some more but before she could, she felt a great weight relieved off of her by force, and a loud crash followed._

_She opened her eyes and sat up, Jasparo had crashed into the stairway on the other side of the room, she looked behind her and saw Nadeshiko glaring at the boy, and oversoul on his hands and feet…_

I paused for a moment to catch my breath, noticing Annaka's look of disgust, I laughed. "What's with that face?" I said through my laughter.

Her gaze hardened, "What was that damned hentai trying to do to her?" she asked out of annoyance, her hands balled into two tight fists.

I shook my head, she really hated perverts didn't she? "Jasparo has the ability to…taste whether or not someone has their own special shamanic ability, and can classify that person's ability through lip contact, whoever his lips touch he knows their ability in a matter of two seconds. Haro finds this much easier when needing to separate the God class shaman from the normal shamans. You may say that he…liked Ari's taste…"

"How uncouth." She protested, I smiled, I agreed on her on that small note of opinion. "Then what?" she asked obviously interested in Ari's biography. I smirked at her before continuing.

"Others of the Molina joined the fight, eventually Nadeshiko was outnumbered and ran out of furyoku, he was half dead at that point…"

_Haro laughed, "Ahh Nadeshiko," he mused, "Did Big Chief really not think I wouldn't realize this girl's physical traits?" Nageshiko glared at the man, but stayed silent. "Well I believe you won't mind if I end your rude misbehavior now, will you?"_

"_NO!" Arisu shrieked in Jasparo's arms, "No, no please!" she begged, trying to leave the blonde male's strong grasp, she pushed and shoved until she kicked him in the shin hard enough to make him let go. She ran over to where Nadeshiko was lying on the ground and threw her arms around him protectively. Haro raised a brow and laughed amusingly._

"_She is so desirable!" he announced in giddy tone, "That's it! I want her!" Arisu felt Nadeshiko tense, Haro laughed, "No worries, dear Patch, not like that!" he assured with a crooked smile, "I want her and her ability."_

No matter how he put it, it still sounded as if he had bad intentions……

"_What ability are you talking about you bastard?" the Patch hissed through his rays of pain that had been inflicted upon his body. Arisu lowered her head, her black bangs covering her eyes. A muscular man with short curls of brown hair, Feliciano, held a sword to Nadeshiko's throat. _

_The giddy man raised a brow, "Surely your tribe new of her prophetic ability and simply came here accidentally?" the silence made him think otherwise. "Oh no." he said in a tone of shock as a new theory came about his mind, "Don't tell me you got orders to bring her to us so _we _could turn her to a god class shaman?" Nagehiko kept his mouth shut, Haro broke into laughter. "Hahaha! Seriously? Has the Patch brought forth such lowly theories into their culture?! Hahaha, please! According to Jasparo's sense of taste, dear Arisu has been god class since birth!"_

I quite remember the day I had realized of Ari's powers, it was the first day she spoke to me. _"Your future does not show you're evil."_ She had said to me, if I couldn't have read her mind that would've been the quote of realization. But those bastards, the Patch, had always failed to notice these damn give-away-able details. Also, Ari never wanted them to know.

_Arisu raised her head to stared into Nadeshiko's face. His dark blue eyes penetrating her very being, trying to find any small sign that said the man's words weren't true, he found nothing. A growl rumbled low in his chest. Jasparo stiffened as Nadeshiko found strength and grabbed Arisu's shoulders to shake her. "Have you been keeping this since you could talk!?" he hissed in question, his fury barely in check, "Do you have ANY idea what Big Chief had planned other than THIS to get you to get an ability?! He wouldn't have cared if you died! He still has Arrison, his only descendent that didn't keep a damn ability hidden! Tell me Ari, ARE YOU STUPID!?!"_

_Arisu pursed her lips together, trying to hold back all the tears that stung her eyes, Nadeshiko pushed her away violently, suddenly clutching his ribs in pain. Arisu fell back to the ground, but Jasparo caught her and circled his arms around her once more. The air in her lungs was leaving her, she felt dizzy, and the lump in her throat didn't help much, she looked at Haro and opened her mouth to speak, "Please," she begged between gasps for air, "Don't…kill…him. We'll…do…a trade. My life…for his…"_

"_Dibs on killing her," a very tall and muscular man with curls of brown hair on his head piped up, Feliciano. _

_Jasparo's body stiffened, crushing the small Patch to his chest, burying her face to his shirt, he gave a quick jerk to turn and face Feliciano then at Haro, narrowing his grey eyes at him, "Don't you dare…" he hissed menacingly. _

_A girl with blonde, almost white, hair and blue-violet eyes, who stood beside of Haro looked at Jasparo blankly, but her lips pursed into a thin line at his words. Haro, on the other hand, immediately beamed at the words, "Well this is a nice turn of events!" he turned to Arisu, "Sorry my dear but if I kill you Jasparo is going to be very angry at me, then Idina here," he pointed to the blonde girl beside him, "will also be troubled."_

_The girl with the snowy hair, Idina, dully looked over at Feliciano. Then she began to take light, gentle steps down the 10-step stairway leading to the five golden thrones at the far end of the room, she made her way over to where Feliciano and Nadeshiko stood, she removed the sword, held by Feliciano, away from Nadeshiko's throat, and looked at him. "I say we let him go," she said, "Let fate take care of him, but…we keep the girl." All in the room widened their eyes at the girl's opinion; she straightened up and began walking back to her beloved leader, "If Haro wants her, I won't disagree."_

_Arisu tensed, not out of fear but out of something else, her body was frozen in place, she was seeing something, something she didn't like at all. Haro began to lightly scratch his chin as he pondered over the dilemma, then he clapped his hands together and stood, "Well!" he said in a cheerful voice that echoed in the room, "Looks like we'll leave him with the humans, we wouldn't want dear little Arisu to be traumatized by seeing his death with her very eyes, would we? Feliciano."_

_The big muscle of the Molina stood and threw a punch right into Nadeshiko's gut, blood spat out of his mouth, and after a few coughs he fell to the ground, unconscious. Arisu gave a quick jolt and came back to present reality, once again she found herself screaming, "No! No! No!" she shouted, as Feliciano threw Nadeshiko's unconscious body over his shoulder and began walking out the door at an incredible speed. "No, please, leave him! Nadeshiko-Nii-san! NADESHIKO-NII-SAN!!!" her scurrying caused her to come forward, she falling front first and Jasparo falling on her back, his arms not loosing their grasp of her._

_The door slammed shut, and there was a long silence…_

_Ari began to shake, her lips slightly trembled; Jasparo tensed when the girl rose her head to look him right in the eyes, her eyes had hate in them, sudden, expected hate and anger. She wanted to hurt him, but her body had suddenly turned weak, when she tried to push him away Jasparo could feel nothing touching him. To stop her attempts, he gently pushed her closer to his chest, "I hate you," she whispered in a soft voice that reminded Jasparo of wind chimes, ones that had just shattered into glass fragments and had cut through his heat. It was a very new kind of pain._

_Idina walked over to the two, stopping beside them, "Jasparo," she muttered softly, "You should take her away from here," out of nowhere she pulled out a long Egyptian axe made of a shining golden metal with blue designs and a golden beetle at the center of the blade. Then the blade lit and sparked with large amounts of furyoku, she began to walk forward and began to look smug, "Music class is about to start…"_

_Haro stood from his throne and began to turn, Jasparo grabbed Ari, threw her up on his back and followed Haro into the hidden room behind the throne. Arisu dared to look back and saw Irene was no longer in sight, Jasparo and Haro began to pick up their pace, walking faster now, but not fast enough. The next thing she heard were painfully ear-piercing screams that could've melt your skin off, what made it worse was…it was the scream of children…_

I opened an eye to look at Miss Annaka's face; I had wanted to see her expression of the last part I spoke of, I didn't like the idea myself. Not the idea of them killing human children, but I hated the idea of killing human children to turn them to god class shamans, humans could never be like us, even if taught as kids. The very idea disgusted me. I sat up and I saw her expression, it was perfectly composed, blank, like marble stone, the only thing that showed any emotion was her eyes. The crimson gems burned in fierce flames of rage, she didn't know the Molina but had already begun to hate them. I chuckled to myself and laid back down on the rock, ready to continue.

"They had her for a month, she was slowly loosing her will to live due to her guilt of Nadeshiko's soon-to-be death. The week before the end of the month, I arrived at Mu and noticed Ari's absence; I became uncontrollably indocile when I found out what Big Chief did. I took my anger out on him, burning his face to discipline the bastard's selfish wants, but I realized that I had to take my anger out on the Molina. I had heard rumors of the Molina, of their whereabouts and more, so finding them wasn't an issue, though the day I arrived in Spain, was the day Nadeshiko was sentence to death."

Her perfect brows raised themselves, a slip, she tried to recompose her face, but failed, instead her lips parted to speak, "Why?" she demanded to know.

"The children had last been seen with Adelaide and Nadeshiko, but only Nadeshiko was found by the humans, alone and covered in blood. They thought he had murdered them, but they kept him in trail for a month because he was too weak to speak or to even move. In the end they said him to be guilty in the missing of the children, and they sent him to he staked, damn humans. I saw him in his jail cell, but he told me not to save him, but to liberate Ari. As his dying wish, this is what I did, but when we got out Ari saw something she didn't want to see."

Annaka's eyes did not blink, they stood still, filled with the curiosity of a cat, her lips pursed themselves into a thin line, as if she knew what I was to say, but hesitated to show her feelings. It was that image that made me wonder if only her red orbs showed emotion, and the rest of her being did not. Something darkened within her eyes and her face turned away from me, looking out into the river beside us, "What did she see?" she muttered in a dull tone, no doubt she had already guessed the answer.

"When we made it out of the Molina's residence, she saw Nadeshiko tied to a stake, many damned humans shouting around him, a male human picked up and axe with ease and swung it once…at his neck, chopping his head right off of his shoulders." She didn't look at me, but I could see her eyes now becoming soft wit a sort of glassy barrier covering her eye's normal appearance. "After that Ari realized how humans were, and how they really needed to be destroyed, she wanted to kill them all right on the spot, but she found no way how, 'I want them dead, dead!' she yelled, and to fulfill her wish, I turned them all to ashes as we left the city, hoping to also rid this world of the Molina, but that was they were the only survivors. No doubt that the strongest of them have entered the Shaman Fight. And their pointless goal of shaman-made humans still remains in their heads."

"Asakura…" she said my name, and something hit the inside of my chest hard, her head slowly turned to look me right in the eyes, they were now narrow and hard, "What is your reason for hating humans?"

I raised a brow, and laid back down, "Must I have a reason? Though I believe I have told you," though I did not tell it all, the death of my mother five hundred years ago, I will not speak of it to anyone, for no one's business it is.

The blonde in front of me narrowed her eyes even more, "You're saying that you have no reason to hate humans, but simply do?"

"Exactly," I smiled, "but I do have a reason, your theory is only half correct, I hate all humans."

"So if I was a human you'd hate me."

Those words came out in tone of a fact other than her own personal opinion, I raised another brow, I felt a small chuckle form at my throat, the look on her face was annoyment, I had angered her again…how easy. I chuckled once more before my face became serious and I scooted in close enough that my hand guided itself towards her strands of golden locks, she froze under my touch, I chuckled once more. "If you were a human, then yes, it's possible I would loathe you, but…you're not human."

She grabbed my hand and pushed it away, I smiled a laid my head on her lap, much to her dislike, but much to my like. "Get off of me," she ordered harshly.

"No, this is rather comfortable." I admitted, gently grabbing a few strands of her hair and placing it on my lips.

"How uncouth!" she protested standing up, bringing my head to the ground. She grabbed the strand of hair I kissed and grasped it hard, her eyes flaming. "Who the hell do you think you're doing that to!?" she yelled at me.

I sat up and smiled, "Someone who I believe I'm very interesting in."

She looked at me, mouth and eyes wide open, though I couldn't tell whether in anger or horror, all I saw was her retrieving body as she turned as quickly stomped off from my sight. I sighed and lay back down on the ground, grinning to my fullest on the outside, but frowning in confusion on my inside. I had a lot of thinking to do…

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**Annaka's P.O.V**

I ran past several families of trees before I stopped running, what the hell was I doing back there. If Nee-san were here she would've killed him. That was _my _chance to kill him, but I didn't. I got too caught in the story. It never occurred to me that such could happen to such a small child. It didn't surprised me that Big Chief would do that, he was very power hungry, probably that's the only thing he shares with the leader of the Molina shaman group.

I walked over to my assigned room and caught Arisu's eye, she gave me a smile and walked off, as if nothing Hao spoke of had happened. She was happy now…I could tell…

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Normal P.O.V**

A small girl ran through the woods, her height seemed to be exactly five foot and she had a very thin figure and light olive skin. She ran through the woods at an incredible speed, her long dark brown hair made her seem like a winged bird flying right through the trees, though it was a strange combination of curly and wavy hair. Her light brown eyes looked around the woods until she came to a more Spanish-styled village that was on the right side of the island she was at, she located a large newly constructed gothic castle and made her way to it, opening the large black and gold doors as if she owned the place.

Inside were many hallways with doors on each side, but the girl kept her eyes on the biggest door that was at the very end of the hallway, it wasn't hard to find seeing it was made of pure gold. She walked up towards it, a tall, and very big in muscle, man with short, cropped, black hair stood at the entrance, his thick and hard arms crossed in front of his chest. He looked at the girl and winked, "_Bienvenida, preciosa_," he smiled as she came up to him. The girl nodded once and knocked once at the door.

A very thin female with long white blonde hair opened the large doors, her blue-violet eyes seemed malicious but yet angelic, as if the girl had both characteristics in her. Her attire was very strange as she wore a long black gown with gold embroidery and sleeves with small puffs right below the shoulders, the gown came tight around her small waist, but the pattern of gold yarn and buttons did not falter as it went down to the ground, and there was a more see-through material that was at her upper chest and from elbows to her wrists. She blinked once, and looked at the dark haired girl, "You found her?" she asked in dull curiosity, slowly tilting her head to the right.

"Tall, brown skin, blue eyes, short pitch black hair, skinny figure, but well built?" the brunette asked as if she had memorized the characteristics before.

The blonde nodded, and the brunette smiled, "Then, _si_. I found her."

The blonde closed her eyes and smirked, opening the door even wider to allow the brunette to enter, "_Bien_. Haro and Jasparo will be pleased by this…also this will be very…_divertido…_"

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Present day Funbari Inn**

Asanoha and Jane stood in the kitchen, both of them cleaning up, preparing for the gang when they were to return. The inn was silent and no one necessarily said a word, but both were worried of what was happening to the younger shaman, seeing as school was over a while ago. The door slammed open and a harsh wind blew inside the hallway, both heads raised themselves at the sudden sound. Wilhelmina entered and made her way into the kitchen, eyeing the two older females curiously. Jane looked behind her, but saw nothing other than thin air, '_How strange…'_ she thought, she felt sure she heard footsteps, and she felt someone's harsh gaze on her. Her gaze fell on Asanoha who looked back at her curiously.

"Is there a problem?" she asked dully.

"I thought I heard something…" Jane replied, turning back to the dishes that were being washed in her hands, "Maybe I'm just hearing things…"

Wilhelmina smirked and walked between the two women, "No, Jane." She whispered, "You're just seeing what I want you to see…"

Jane jerked her head to her left, just in time to see Wilhelmina lift her fan and slash right through Asanoha's body. Jane screamed, closing her eyes, and taking a step back in horror. She reopened her eyes expecting to see blood everywhere, but there wasn't any. She took a closer look and saw Asanoha's insides. It was just clay, hard red dirt on her insides, as for the rest of her, her eyes lost their color and turned into orbs of soulless grey.

"Just as I thought," Wilhelmina said, "There was no way you can revive the dead if you are in no possession of their body…this Asanoha…is just like Nianna…nothing but worthless dirt and an artificial soul." The Chinese woman's dark topaz eyes fell on the silver haired Patch, "And you Jane…" she said menacingly, making her way over to the priestess, "you're the same…and will have the same fate…"

Jane wanted to move, to run, but she couldn't. She was too busy trying to process what Wilhelmina had just said. _Nothing, but worthless dirt and an artificial soul…just like Nianna._ As these words passed through her head she didn't notice Wilhelmina's fan rise, and before she could notice, she felt a stray of wind cut through her, everything turning black in the process.

The red haired Chinese woman pushed back her curls and bent down to retrieve her fan from Jane's clayed gut. She closed the fan and turned her back on the two human-like sculptures, now soulless and lifeless. She shrugged, and began walking towards the exit of the inn. "How repulsive," she spat, "Hao-sama could never be tricked so easily. He knew all along, he's no idiot. But still…" she raised her topaz eyes to look up at the sky, "nice trick, Queen Anna…you seem to be the perfect opponent for the person soon to rise…"

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**I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!!!!!! You all must hate me right now!! I'm soo sorry. I understand if you don't review but I'd love them either way. :D though my personal opinion is that this chapter sucked, but tell me what you guys think.**

**Ja 01'Loving you Always'**- _God speed is sooo hard to do, like really! Thanks for waiting though_.

**jade destiny**- _it annoys me a bit yes, but you're the reader not me, so w/e you choose is fine. :] no hard feelings._

**Animewitch17**- _yes well I'm sorry for that mistake. Really. I changed that scene btw. Not as great as before but still…not copyright infringement intended._

**Hpcs2 - Suprema Onmyoji Isah**- _ah thank you. Glad to know._

**Boblove**- _haha okay thx_

**I Am Tao Ren**- _no need to hate on Animewitch, that's very rude, but thx for the encouragement either way._

**Hello Shinya**- _ahaha glad to know you cried. Means you liked it. :]_

**Joan D'Arc**- _Arigatou!_

**Sara**- _haha wow thx_

**Crono De Tokiwa Grove**- _hahaha no, no esta bien, que bueno que entiendo espanol jaja_

**Fate-** _hope this one was too then_

**Majrocks**- _good to know_

**complicatedmind21**- _you'll see eventually. But thx for reviewing either way :D_

**Nightglider**- _hahaha good._


	18. Hoshi no Kissu IV

**Yoh and Anna Side Story: Another one bites the dust**

Yoh stared at the ceiling for a long time while Anna showered, he was thinking, he'd been thinking since he made it to where he was, inside Anna's subconscious memories. He sighed; he had once again angered Anna. What did he say? He didn't remember stating she was emotionless, but it seemed she took it that way. Or maybe he subconsciously thought it and she heard it? No. He would've noticed. He rolled on the futon face down in his stress, muttering a few words here and there, but he was forced to bite his tongue when Anna's head peeked from the bathroom door.

"Yes, Yoh, you were saying?"

"N-Nothing, Anna," he replied, scratching his head and starting to get up. Her head then disappeared from the room, possibly to place a yukata around her…naked body. Ugh! He mentally thought to himself, he really had to stop thinking of her…nice…naked body…

"Oh man, this is going be a long day," he muttered, throwing himself back down on the futon. He heard her as Anna turned the knob of the bathroom door, then came out, and shut the door behind her. He lifted his head slowly and saw her in her black turtle neck dress, with the white knee-high socks, he smiled as he remembered the day Anna showed him the dress in the catalogue.

"_What do you think of this dress?" she had asked._

_Yoh looked at it and shrugged, "It's all the same to me." __**SLAP!**_

Yoh wanted to laugh at the memory, it was another time there had been a misunderstanding between the two. Yoh simply meant that it didn't matter to him what she wore, because she would still be beautiful to him, but obviously Anna did not catch that.

Anna did not look at him, she simply sat down once more in her previous position beside the table, picking up her fallen chopsticks and continued eating. Her eyes wandered over to him, "Eat," she ordered. He decided not to push her temper any further, she had already slapped him after all, so he walked in front of her on the other side of the table and sat down, picking up his chopsticks and eating. The silence was painful, he had to admit, but he didn't want to be the one to interrupt it. Anna was the one to break the silence when she finally noticed Yoh's constant gaze, she slammed her bowl of food down on the table and glared at him. "What?" she demanded to know.

Yoh looked back down at his food, sipping some noodles, to avoid her question. He looked up saw her glare still in place, he swallowed the noodles in his mouth and sighed, "I'm sorry…"

"For?"

"Making you mad…" he said in a whisper, "I don't like making you mad…" she raised a brow curiously. Was there _another _misunderstanding? "N-not because you're scary when you're angry or anything!" he stuttered. Great. He _really_ was stupid.

"Thanks," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her husband's bad attempt to save his arse. She stood and was about to take to plates to wash them herself, till Yoh got them and stood.

"I'll clean them today," he said, feeling a little guilty of his last comment, "is that okay?" he called from the sink as he dumped the dishes and began scrubbing with soap. Anna sat down and took out a magazine, she began eyeing every picture, every detail and every article, but she felt that she had already read it. The writers of magazines were all the same. She sighed and stood, taking a few steps to where her jacket laid on the floor; she placed it over her body and walked over to the kitchen.

Yoh continued to wash the dishes, scrubbing, rinsing, and drying, he did this until he felt Anna pull his arm, pulling him out of the kitchen. He blinked, about to open his mouth to say something until Anna threw his jacket at his face. "Let's go" she ordered, turning her back on him, stepping hurriedly out the door. Yoh blinked a couple more times before rushing out the door after her, his jacket tightly in his grasp.

"Oi, Anna…"

Anna casually looked back over her shoulder at her following husband; he walked behind her, his eyes staring at the floor rather than her. Anna stopped walking and let Yoh pass her before he stopped and turned to look at her. "Did I make you mad?" he asked, the blood suddenly rising to his cheeks for no reason. "If I did…I'm sorry…" Anna felt a sudden lump in her throat as Yoh suddenly came closer to her. She pushed him away and walked past him to a bench where she harshly sat on.

Yoh sighed and sat beside her. "I'm sorry…" he whispered once more.

Anna stared out into the white snow, seeing the small flakes fall on the sheet of white, snow on snow. "Why do you put up with me, Yoh?" she suddenly asked. Yoh raised his head to look at her, he opened his mouth, ready to speak, but Anna's expression lead the silence to last longer than expected. The light from the sun was bouncing off the blanket of white and shining onto Anna's skin. Yoh gulped and tried his best to look away, but found out that he couldn't.

Anna felt his gaze on her, then his hand gently made its way to hers and held it tight, Anna turned her head and saw Yoh looking in the same direction she had before, his eyes concentrating hard, his cheeks slowly turning pink. "You know…you're always very distant, you've always been like that…but…I've never known why. Can you tell me why?" he whispered softly.

Anna's eyes averted to where Yoh's gazed, at a small red bridge that was rarely visible due to distance, Anna saw this and looked to the ground and sighed. She was not going to tell him this for his pleasure. No. She would just say it to get the damn story off of her chest. Only for that reason would she say it. "When I was a bit younger the Kyoyama family hosted a party at the old mansion. I was forced to dance with many stupid bachelors so that I could be finding a suitor…" Yoh frowned, "One of the boys I danced with had the damn nerve of kissing me on the lips…" she paused in anger, "he ended up at the hospital several minutes later."

"YOU KILLED HIM!?"

Anna shrugged. "Not physically."

"ANNA!" Yoh shouted in horror, shocked that Anna would've brutally killed a boy for kissing her. Well he wasn't THAT shocked. But he knew the boy couldn't help it; shoot, it was bad enough for him trying to restrain himself from kissing his own wife all the time…

Anna turned her head and glared at her stupid fiancé, "Idiot, his soul left immediately to the Great Spirit." Yoh blinked, still clueless as to what Anna was explaining, she let out a sigh. "A Shaman Queen's kiss is meant to send the Shaman King straight to the Great Spirit to receive his Kami-like power. When that good-for-nothing-brat kissed me his spirit left and didn't come back."

Yoh blinked again, thinking hard as his brain cells worked at their fastest. "But when we first kissed on _that _night…"

"Nothing happened. I know."

Silence crept up between them, Yoh felt his grip around Anna's hand tightening slowly, he saw the space that was between them and scooted closer to Anna, so close that their sides where touching. "For once I was scared…" he heard her whisper, "I thought that if we became closer, we'd end up kissing one day, and on that day…you'd leave…That's the reason why I kept my distance. Sending you off to do tons of laps took plenty of time each day, so I began sending you off to do that to avoid you. And also it made you stronger, so that you _could _become Shaman King, I wouldn't have to worry so damn much." Beside her, Yoh softly chuckled; she looked at him and raised a brow, "What?" she demanded to know. Yoh just kept quiet and smiled, staring out in front of him.

Anna smacked his head. "Are you listening to me?!" she asked, annoyed.

"Ow Anna. That hurt." Yoh rubbed his head. "I was listening. You were worried about me. But in reality…I was always worried about you, Anna. I came here because I was worried what had happened to you when you were younger so…I came to find out so I could help…make you happy…"

Her heart skipped a beat. She shook her thoughts and crossed her arms. "Why should you care? It has nothing to do with you." She quickly snapped.

"Because I do. And..." Yoh grinned. "It does have to do with me, I'm causing trouble for you by just being here…" he looked at her and kept his grin, " But by being here I'm understanding you more," he told her, his eyes gazing warmly into hers, that boyish grin of his causing her to look away due to her hyperventilating. Yoh moved his face closer to hers to see why she turned away, "What's wrong?" he began to ask before he got a glimpse of her now pink skin. _'She's blushing... Cute...' _A childish smirk crept up his face and he pulled away from her gaze, and decided to gaze up at the sky, watching each flake naturally fall to meet the others. "You know," he began, "I think there's more you're not telling me Anna…"

"I've told you enough for today."

He frowned, obviously wishing that wasn't her answer, but yet he gave in easily with a childish pout. "I guess you did…"

Anna turned her head to look at him. He had that look on his face, the one that was both thoughtful and blank. The one that made her want to slap him because she wanted to know his thoughts without invading his head. Sometimes she had no other choice, and her curiosity was aching to dig in. He turned his head to look at her, a small smile on his face, indicating that he was listening incase she wished to say something. Damn him. "What do you want to know?" she sighed in defeat.

"Forget I asked," he smiled and was silent for a while. Anna felt herself frown, her anger bubbling inside her.

"Tell me." She ordered.

"Nope."

"Yoh…" she said menacingly, she was serious now, "Tell. Me. Now."

Yoh shook his head, and Anna moved in closer to him. Her face was now only centimeters away from his, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and smirked at the sight of Yoh's blood rushing to his face. He could feel his own temperature rise, and he could smell Anna's sweet scent above him. He could feel something bubbling inside him, and it was then he realized that he was weaker than he had thought, because he quickly gave in and without a warning he kissed her on her lips. Anna's eyes widen at his actions and she suddenly felt speechless. Suddenly _she _felt her blood rise, was it out of anger? She didn't know at the moment, but she did feel like killing him. Yoh laughed at her expression and wrapped his arms around her.

Anna just glared, "You have no right to do that," she warned him.

Yoh's smile faded, "Anna…" he wined. Anna just turned her eyes away, her body still on top of his. "You're being mean."

"I never said I was nice, Yoh."

Yoh laughed and closed his eyes, letting Anna's scent enter his sense of smell, he did feel better when he was with her, people just couldn't tell. And it was rather embarrassing when they did. But only a few people knew, and those people were his friends. The kids at school never really noticed much now that he thought of it…or maybe he just never really paid attention to how people reacted when he and Anna always walked with each other, and Manta, to school. He had noticed some boys giving him death glares though…

He shrugged, oh well. It's best to think of now than the past. And right now he was enjoying the undisturbed silence of him and Anna.

"Oi, kid, get that perverted look off your face," he heard a voice say before he felt a foot on his face, that kicked him hard. Yoh came crashing into the snow, and accidentally pulled Anna under him and fell on her in an awkward position.

Anna realized his position and blushed. "Idiot!" She hit Yoh and knocked him off of her.

"Itai! Why'd you hit me?" Yoh stood up, rubbing the spot that Anna hit.

"Because you had a very disturbing look on your face, a kid your age shouldn't think of things like that when lying on a public bench," a voice mocked above him.

Yoh looked up and saw Ohachiyo sitting on the bench from where he and Anna had fallen. The demon had a mischievous smirk on his face and he stood on the bench and looked down at Yoh. "The only time you're allowed to have that look on your face is when you're sleeping with your wife, kid. Or when you're looking at her back side when she cooks or when she's reaching for something. Other than that, that look cannot be seen in public. Got it, kid?" Yoh blushed furiously and looked at Anna, Ohachiyo couldn't see her, maybe that was a good thing…

Anna glared at the demon who had caused her to fall and the fact that he was speaking of such inappropriate things wasn't helping his situation much. "Yoh, smack him," she ordered violently.

Yoh shook his head, his eyes wide at Anna. "No way," he responded in a low whisper.

She crossed her arms. "He is being disgusting."

Yoh shrugged. _Hmm..._ "It's his way of being, you can't expect much from a demon, Anna."

Anna frowned, "Ohachiyo, you're a bastard." Anna growled viciously, knowing he could not see nor hear her.

Yoh frowned, "That's not nice," he said a little louder. Ohachiyo raised a brow and smirked.

"Don't like people talking of your _love _life…I get it," he laughed, jumping down from the bench and turning his back on Yoh and the invisible Anna. Anna raised her arm, ready to slap the demon across his cheek, but Yoh grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Anna! Stop!" Yoh he whispered and pulled both of her arms back and held her.

"Yoh, let go! I'm going to kill him!" Anna yelled.

Yoh sweat dropped, _'All the more reason not to let go…' _he thought to himself.

"Oi, kid!" Ohachiyo called from the distance he had walked, "Cadm told me to get you by the way…seems that Akiko-san has woken up…and something seems to be messed up…"

**----------------**

Anna sighed and stood in her position for a while. What was she doing here?

Oh, right, she insisted Yoh go in to talk to Akiko on his own. She was already learning too much of what she didn't want to know. She looked at the door in front of her…should she go in or just wait for Yoh in the lobby? No. That would be pointless. She looked at the door and casually faded inside her younger self's hospital room. To her right she saw Cadm sleeping soundly on a chair, she wrinkled her face, why wouldn't he leave the damn room?

She looked around and found a chair right in front of the hospital bed, she shrugged and took a seat in it and stared at her younger reflection. Her complexion was pale, but her features seemed as if they where carved of marble, there was a little tint of pink on her cheeks and lips, but that was it. Her long golden strands of hair covered a few places on her face, but the rest laid perfectly straight on the pillow.

Anna frowned, _'Really ... What am I doing?' _she looked at the unconscious Anna-chan, and began to ponder. '_Do I really look like that?_' she asked herself while looking at her younger self once more. Her sleeping figure looked almost angelic…She shook her head, Anna Kyoyama was far from angelic, why would she even think of such thing? Really…but still…Without noticing her actions, Anna placed her hand on her face and slowly touched her facial features.

She couldn't really understand why those damn males at school tried to whoo her each day. It was bad enough on her first day of school after all…

_Anna sat close to the back of the room, class had now ended but they had lunch at the moment, so she found herself sitting in the back of the room on her first day, keeping an eyes on Yoh to make sure he was eating right._

_There he was just two desks across from her, talking happily with Manta, well Manta did most of the talking, Yoh just smiled and listened. Occasionally Yoh would look back at her and jerk his head back to Manta when he saw she was looking at him. Anna would just roll her eyes._

"_Oi, Kyoyama! Why are you sitting all alone?" an annoying male roach asked her, "If it's because you don't know anyone then sit here," the boy patted the chair next to him, "You could get to know me."_

_All heads turned to look at her, out of the corner of her eye Anna saw Yoh and Manta also looking at her. "Leave it to Anna to attract attention on her first day," she heard Manta whisper to her fiancé. Anna ignored his comment and looked at the roach who called her._

"_What the hell do you want?" Anna snapped coolly. The roach looked at her and smirked. 'Feisty,' his mind said, 'Me like…' Anna narrowed her eyes in disgust._

_The roach approached her desk and smiled, "I just want what almost every single guy wants. You."_

_Something flashed through Yoh's eyes, anger? Jealousy? At the moment she didn't care, she just closed her eyes, stood up, and before anyone could realize what she was doing, she smacked the guy so hard he came crashing down on a group of desks behind him. _

"_Don't ask for things to satisfy your hormones, you pervert."_

_Everyone blinked and stared at Anna, who ignored their looks and casually walked out the door as if nothing had happened. Yoh smiled at everyone's bewildered expressions, Manta looked at his friend, "Why are you smiling?" he asked in fear._

_Yoh laughed and stood up, "Because that's Anna."_

Because that's Anna…She had heard him say that while she was out the door. Without meaning to she remembered what Yoh had been thinking when he said those words to Manta. _'A girl that stuns you with just the first look at her…that's Anna…'_ the baka was thinking of that. How he could say that after she made him do the light chair throughout the whole day, plus her special training from hell…

Anna frowned and casually placed her chin on the back of her hand. It was true…she was no angel…

"Looks like a spirit is a little on the depressed side."

Anna swung her head around to catch a glimpse of someone sitting on the stool of the open window beside the bed. It was a boy with long brown hair, a cloak with stars on it, and a warm but menacing childish face with a teasing smile. It took her a few seconds to notice that it was Hao…a young seven year old Asakura Hao, the one whose heart hasn't been opened, but instead was locked up in a whole of darkness. Her eyes narrowed as she quickly closed up all emotions that seemed to be pouring out of her mind.

"What are you doing here," she snapped angrily at someone catching her off guard, not to mention it was her very own brother-in-law...only…in miniature size…

"Come on now, spirit, is that how you greet the future king that's concerned about a friend?"

She returned his comment with a silent stare that seemed to be raging with anger that she held towards him. Getting up from the chair, she folded her arms silently across her chest as she stared back up at the young Hao who quickly joined her on the floor.

"Why such a long a face?" His mahogany hair seemed to echo his movements as he stepped closer towards Anna who only took another step back still glaring at him in return.

"It doesn't concern you so you don't have any need in knowing. Now what do you want?" Anna replied spitefully hoping to end this conversation just as it had arisen.

Hao's eyes stared into her own blank stare almost as if he could see straight through her. She couldn't help but start feeling awkward under the stare and how he was now only a few centimeters from her own face. "Should I be asking that question to you, spirit?" Seeing how Anna wasn't going to respond he continued in his casual voice, but his eyes told her that he was letting on less of what he already knew. "I just came to check up on my future wife, the young Shaman Queen."

Anna took a step back a little shocked as to how he had acquired that information, but she quickly pushed it aside as she continued to stare at him as if she wasn't registering what he had just said. "What makes you think this girl is the Queen?" she asked him. Why the hell was he here? How long has he known of her identity? And how was it that she could never feel his presence when she was younger? She mentally shook her thoughts. This was Asakura Hao, the man she knew as well as Yoh, how could he _not _know. "I believe you've made a mistake, kid."

His mouth broke into a small smile as he noticed right through her cold lies, as always. Even when a child, Asakura Hao had never been an idiot, he was not raised that way.

"That's not what I see." His taunting voice seemed to fill the air with an awkward silence as Anna was glaring at him.

"Her furyoku is greater than mine, and I can feel it growing with each second that I am here. Her beauty reminds me of my mother's, and of another whom I'd rather not speak of." His simple childish smile crossed his face again as she opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came but another glare. Blowing some of his bangs that had fallen lazily in front of his face he smiled pleased as his eyes looked over Anna-chan's face. "No doubt she is the Queen."

"But you're not going to take her." Anna stated coolly, taking her seat on the chair from where she stood.

The small Hao shook his head, his eyes for once becoming those of an innocent child, "No, not today," he admitted, "her small mind at this moment is uncovering the lost memories of her past, I wouldn't want to interrupt that."

There was silence for a few minutes, Anna just sat there, occasionally staring at the seven year old Hao or staring at the early night that was appearing through the window. Now the night was a calming thing to look at. It was silent. It was dark. But, as many things, it did not last long. The small Hao broke the silence.

"Life is very confusing, you know," he slowly began, not staring at the older Anna, but at the younger one in front of him.

"This coming from a kid who wants his mommy," Anna mocked.

He didn't laugh, he didn't seem amused, his eyes warmed and his face slowly faltered. "You jest at scars that never felt a wound, spirit. Do you know who killed my mother?" –Anna stayed silent- "the very disgusting race that harms the mind of dear little Anna-chan here. Humans. Their evil thoughts fill her head so much that they are the cause of the Oni she summons. And from her exhaustion she collapses to where she hears the thoughts of her past, and the past of others."

Anna crossed her legs and crossed her arms out in front of her chest, "How would you know this?"

A childish smirk appeared on his face and he crossed his legs and rested his chin on the palm of his hand, "I can perfectly hear what she's thinking," he announced in pride.

Anna narrowed her eyes at him, "No you can't," she stated.

"Oh, but I can. I can even hear what's subconsciously going through her head at this very moment, and ironically…it's the thoughts of my mother." Anna's eyes widened for a second before she composed her expression once again, she looked up, noticing that the smirk never left young Hao's face, "Spirit," he spoke up, "I'm about to tell you something no one, but Kami and the Patch chief, knows…"

**-------**

Yoh looked at Anna, then looked at the door to Akiko-san's room, then looked back at Anna, "You want to come in with me?" he asked nervously. The truth was, he didn't know what to expect at the moment, all he knew was that something was wrong with Akiko-san. He thought maybe he wouldn't worry so much if Anna were there…

"No. Go in alone." She ordered rather harshly. Yoh sighed. Right. There would be no reason for her to go in…it might affect her more…

"Okay," he gave in, "But where will you be??" he asked her worriedly. Anna turned her back on him and began walking off without giving him an answer. He sighed. Knowing her, she might be going to wait in the lobby and look at a catalogue or something.

He turned his attention back to the door, once more he sighed before saying, "Well here goes nothing," and faded into the room.

Akiko's body was lying on the bed and two nurses constantly examining her, it seemed like simple things like feeling her forehead, checking her pulse, her breathing, as well as other things. When done, the nurses moved away from the bed to recover the empty plates from Akiko-san's breakfast tray.

"Hmm, her memory isn't doing so well…" one of the nurses spoke up in a voice only heard by her co-worker, and Yoh and Ohachiyo who were listening beside them.

The other nurse quickly placed her finger up to her lips.

"Shh," she ordered, then pointed to a corner of the room, "You don't want to wake him." Yoh looked over at the corner and saw Edward asleep on a chair. "Besides he'll become suspicious of Damasu's medications for his wife…I am a little worried if we get caught…"

"Oh he won't wake up, we gave him the strongest sleep medicine we had, Dr. Kyoyama's orders."

"Is he allowed to give such a strong prescription to someone who's not a patient?"

The nurse pondered that for a minute, worry beginning to overcome her, "Now that I think of it…let's just hurry up and leave," the other nurse agreed and with that said, the two nurses left the room in a hurry.

Yoh looked at Edward, who was still asleep, Ohachiyo appeared beside him and poked at the blonde. "Oh he's dead asleep," he said.

Yoh gave a nervous smile and walked over to Akiko-san who slowly opened her eyes. She slowly sat up, her hair flowing to her back, she placed her hands on her lap, "Could I be in such a condition that the nurses have to whisper in secret?" she asked herself in worry.

A drop of sweat fell from Yoh's forehead, _'he he…so she wasn't asleep…'_

Akiko froze for a half a second and slowly turned her head, her eyes falling on Yoh with a hint of confusion as she stared. "Ano…and who may you be?" she asked kindly with a gentle smile.

Yoh let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in and smiled back, so far it seemed like she was still the same. "Akiko-san, I am a friend of your daughter, remember?" maybe her illness was affecting her most recent memories or it could be possible that she can't think clearly. Maybe her response would tell him something…

Yoh turned to her and saw Akiko blink, her face full of confusion and sudden thoughtfulness, "My daughter?" she repeated in question, placing her index finger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling, "Daughter…?" she lowered her head and gave Yoh and apologetic look, "Ano…gomen…could it be that you may be confused? You see, I don't have a daughter…but I do have a son maybe you speak of him…?"

Yoh's face altered. Could it be she had been brainwashed? "But Akiko-san, you do have a daughter, her name is Anna, she's seven years old and-"

"Anna?" Akiko replied, her tone startled. Yoh noticed that her grip on her blankets had tightened and that her eyes had turned into large green orbs, "You don't mean that demon child that lives in my home do you?!" an unknown tone forming itself within her voice…fear.

Yoh blinked in surprise of her words. _Demon child? _"N-nani?! What are you saying Akiko-san?!"

"You speak of that girl my husband brought in for testing, that scary beast!" Akiko began breathing harshly, her eyes were now most certainly showing fear… and plenty of it. "No. No. NO! That THING is not my daughter! NO!"

Yoh subconsciously took a step back; he looked at Ohachiyo who shook his head. "When someone loses their memory they are vulnerable to believe everything one tells them…especially if someone they trust is the one that tells them those lies…"

"Damasu …" Yoh said through gritted teeth, his eyes suddenly filling with specs of water, "Why does he do this, Ohachiyo?"

The demon shrugged, "Damasu believes in the spiritual world thanks to his job at the Oyamada company, who get most of their riches from discovering the supernatural. He really doesn't believe that anyone could be perfect…so he targets those people as supernatural beings."

"But…why would he involve Akiko into this?"

"He at one point began believing she wasn't human either…" Yoh stayed silent. Allowing Ohachiyo to continue, "Cadm and I have been following Damasu and Anna-chan for a while. He doesn't trust anyone. When he sees a beautiful woman with a kind personality he thinks she's a fox in disguise. It's ironic actually…"

"How?"

Ohachiyo crossed his arms and legs and sat down on the floor, "Wounds of a parent's anger and frustration will carry those scars for years, kid. Akiko-san was healed of her sickness when she decided to take Anna in. Her heart before that was so lifeless and weary. She had a sickness where she would bleed too much and there was not enough blood in her body for her to live on. She became tired of her suffering. On the day she found Anna-san on Osorezan Mountain she was planning on committing suicide by freezing to death." Yoh's head raised itself and his eyes grew at Ohachiyo's words, the demon did not look at him, but went on, "But yet there were signs of Akiko-san's realization. She held the abandoned Anna-san and at realizing that she no longer felt pain her hands got sweaty, her head was fuzzy and confused, to test her condition she bit her lip and no matter how hard she bit it…she never bled. That was when she realized Anna-san's power and, thinking she was an angel sent from Kami, decided to keep it a secret. But Damasu knew she knew something and Akiko began to go into depression due to her husband's rage. Akiko's depression created doubts and her sickness returned because of the lost of the faith she had before."

"So Damasu decided to use Akiko's sickness to his advantage, and gave her a drug that would erase her memory…and then he would fill Akiko-san's head with new thoughts…" Yoh said dully, his voice sad but his face without expression. He looked at Akiko-san, who now was covering her ears with her hands and sending out ear-breaking shrieks with her voice.

The door slammed open at that moment, and Damasu ran inside followed by two nurses. He quickly ran over to his wife's aid, "Akiko, tell me what troubles you? Calm down, you're causing a ruckus!"

One of the nurses looked over at Edward's sleeping figure, "Dr. Kyoyama, why won't your son open his eyes? With all this noise you'd think he would have jolted."

Damasu ignored the nurse and looked at his wife, who was now shrieking into his arms. Damasu patted her head, "shh, come on now," he whispered gently, "there's no reason for you to be shouting…"

For another half a second, Akiko-san froze, she quickly recovered and pushed her husband, her eyes wide, looking at her husband as if he were of another planet. "No reason?!" she shouted in horror, her long strands of blonde falling in front of her face, causing her previously angelic visage to look savage.

Yoh for some reason could not look at Akiko's face, he looked away, his gaze shifting to the two nurses who both withheld frightened expressions. To Yoh, it seemed as if both of the nurses had something to say, but would rather it be if they didn't. They stared with uneasy stances as Akiko screamed and shouted in an almost hysterical way.

One of two nurses, whom had blue-hair with matching midnight blue eyes, leaned over to whisper into the ear of her light auburn-haired co-worker. "Strange," Yoh heard her whisper, "Mrs. Kyoyama seems the opposite as to what the rumors say of her."

"Nani?"

"Well, the rumors say that she's a woman with grace and elegancy in her character, that never once did she yell or say something rude…how strange, huh?"

The auburn haired nurse opened her mouth to speak but was suddenly interrupted by Damasu.

"Nurses," he spoke up, his face for once showing a bit of kindness to it, "could you two please leave alone for a moment?" he asked gently. He paused as he noticed a tray of food in the auburn haired nurse's grasp, "Oh, and leave her lunch here as well."

The auburn haired nurse flushed at remembering what she was to do before she had heard Akiko scream. Her boss had just caught her off guard and realized his wife had not had lunch yet. _'I should have brought it in earlier!' _the nurse cursed herself, _'If I get fired because of my own carelessness then I won't be able to take care of my older siblings! Wah~~ I'm such a failure!'_

Yoh kinda felt bad for her.

"Sumimasen," The blue haired spoke up, "But we are supposed to cut up her meat for her and-"

"I'll do it," Damasu interrupted her, his eyes suddenly falling on a certain object on the tray, "And I'll return the kitchen knife when it is no longer in use," he added with a smile.

The nurses winced at the never-before-seen smile, "H-hai!" they responded uneasily. They placed the tray on the stand and immediately left the room.

Ohachiyo shook his head, "Humans…they'll believe anything said to them with a smile…"

Yoh never took his eyes off Damasu. The elder Kyoyama had his wife in hands and patted her head softly. "The medications I gave you had a rather strong effect on you, Akiko," he stated softly in her ear. "I'm afraid you're causing too much of a commotion over Anna-chan." Akiko looked up at her husband; she noticed…he was ashamed of her 'episodes'. "But I can say that it's okay to be scared of her. I believe it's part of being human."

Yoh's knuckles turned white, he felt sick at those words. _"It's okay, it's okay,"_ Manta had once said trying to assure Ren, _"as a human being, being scared of Anna-san is normal." _Manta had been joking at that time, but now Yoh didn't find it so funny…

"Do you want to forget?" Damasu asked, "Will you not regret it?"

Akiko-san tightened her grip on her covers, "I'll never accept her, Damasu, never. I have become irritable to people. When I think of that demon I feel cursed." Yoh stared at the ground, not want to hear any more of it. "My only regret…is that I never had the guts to kill her before."

The Shaman King's body froze.

"Really?" Damasu asked in false surprise, "You should've told me in advance, my dear, I'm done with my tests on her, after all…"

Akiko's face lit up, her eyes suddenly seemed as if they gained life, the blood came rushing back to her face, "Are going to get rid of her?"

Damasu stared at a certain item on the lunch tray, the gears in his head moving so loud Yoh thought of the gears of a grandfather clock slowly turning till the hand struck the time it was set to ring on. "Akiko," the clock spoke suddenly, "why don't you give Anna-chan a bath before the separation between you two?"

**--------**

"There are things that the Patch tribe does not want to influence the Shaman Queens, those things include previous actions done by previous Queens that were seen as sin and dishonor. Things such as falling in love with a man not the Shaman King, and having a child with that man. Immediately, the Queen and child must be killed, and an artificial Queen must be made in her place, a Queen made by the five elemental spirits. When the real Queen is killed, her thoughts and actions still remain to be passed down to the future Queens, but the Patch found a way to make those thoughts and actions only enter subconsciously and then be forgotten when waking up."

Anna shifted in her seat and narrowed her eyes, "Why the hell would you know such a thing," she said to the younger Hao

Hao smiled innocently, the smile of a child, "Do you not trust my words, spirit?" he asked as Anna-chan's lips parted and whispered, 'Asaha…' Hao's gaze on the small blonde became warm and he became closer to her sleeping figure, "Hai, Okaa-san?"

Anna-chan did not answer back, her face simply turned hurt, as if pained. "Fire…" she whispered in pain, "fire…"

Anna's knees became weak, they wobbled until she regained her balance by holding on to the chair.

_Fire…_

_Fire…_

"_Officer look! It's this woman!"_

"_Tie her down!"_

Anna's head was beginning to ache, she was seeing it, the men, the house…the fire. _'No. There's no way in hell!' _she told herself, _'Asanoha was the incarnated spirit of my biological mother…she is not me. She is not me!'_

"_Burn her with the house!"_

"_Now let's see if she'll show her true form!"_

"_Hahahaha…"_

'_Shut up…' _Anna ordered within her head, _'Shut up!'_

"I know what you're thinking, spirit," young Hao spoke up, "This girl's biological mother was my mother's reincarnation, right?" –Anna lifted her head and stared at Hao, wide-eyed– "But her mother died giving birth to her, right? Well what do you think happens to my mother's spirit?" Anna's eyes could not help but to grow wider, "It goes back to the original Queen."

_"OKAA-SAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"_

"URUSAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Anna?"

Anna lifted her head to see Yoh standing at the doorway, looking straight at her with a worried face. She turned her head to the window, Hao was gone…

"Anna, what's wrong? You look like a human that saw a ghost…" Yoh said as he went over to her and wrapped his arms around her. Anna's breathing was going fast, her blood was pumping to an extend. She buried her face in Yoh's chest, her hands pulled tightly on his shirt. "Anna…"

"I didn't see a ghost, Yoh." She finally spoke into his shirt, her breathing becoming steadier now that she was in his arms, "I saw a damned demon…"

Yoh looked at her and opened his mouth to speak–

"Sumimasen!" a nurse called from the doorway. Cadm's eyes flew open and he sat up on his chair, not noticing the Shaman King and Queen in the middle of the room.

"Hai!" he quickly responded, now fully awake. The nurse giggled and smiled.

"I was told to take Kyoyama-san to her mother's room for a bathing. I didn't mean to wake you, gomen!"

Cadm smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, "Go ahead," he said, "It's part of your job after all." He paused for a moment, "Ano…do you mind if I come along?"

"Are you a relative?"

"You can say that."

"Okay then."

Yoh watched as Cadm left the room as the nurse carried off Anna-chan on her bed. He looked down at Anna who was looking towards the other direction, at the window… "Anna-"

"I'm fine now." she curtly answered, pushing herself out of Yoh's arms and also walking out the door. Yoh followed her out to the lobby that was right in front of Akiko-san's room. She sat down on one of the blue couches and placed her head on her two small hands. Yoh looked over at Akiko-san's room and saw Cadm inside. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in.

At least Anna-chan was fine with Cadm in the room.

He sat down beside Anna and lowered his head to her level, his face two inches away from hers. "Want to talk about it?" he suggested.

Anna's eyes moved to look at him, his warm brown eyes were staring straight at hers, full of worry and concern. Her eyes turned to look ahead of her, "Fine," she gave in.

Yoh smiled in relief, she was now willing to talk, he felt at ease now.

"I saw Hao," she began, "he was in the room with me, and he saw me in there, and he spoke to me, the little bastard. And he could hear my younger self's thoughts. Everything. What she was thinking, what she was dreaming, what she was feeling…"

"But he can't hear your thoughts, Anna," Yoh protested.

Anna didn't look at him, she stared at the reception desk in front of her, "That's only because I trust, Yoh. The fact that I trust makes it so no one can enter my head. When younger I didn't even trust myself, so how could I trust others?" –Yoh remained silent– "He knows everything about me, Yoh. Things I didn't know a damn thing about. And as I think of them, the more my hell of a life makes sense."

"Example?"

Anna turned to face him, her eyes gazed into his, showing how serious the matter was, "Asanoha's spirit is subconsciously inside me, which explains why I was not able to detect her spirit when I was reviving people back at Mu. Her spirit was once inside my biological mother, then it transferred to me after her death…"

"I see," Yoh began thinking out loud, "So I was right…" –Anna raised a brow– "Those two you brought from Mu weren't the real Jane and Asanoha…as for Annaka-san…you simply took her spirit out of you because you knew she was inside of you, but since you didn't know about Asanoha being inside of you until now you couldn't bring out the real one…"

Anna smirked and looked away. Yoh wasn't always a complete idiot. They remained in silence for several minutes. Anna noticed that every once in a while, Yoh would shift his gaze to Akiko's room. After a few more minutes, they say Cadm leave the room, Yoh's body tensed. "It's bound to happen anyway, Yoh," Anna spoke up, "If you don't want to see the bloody outcome, then don't look."

"Bloody outcome?" he asked, his voice shaking violently, "You know what's going to happen, right?"

"Because she is me, I know what will happen." Anna stated matter-of-factly, "But because we have one decisive difference, the consequences will be drastic."

Yoh raised a brow at his wife, "What's the difference?"

"I trust…" she turned her head to look at the open door that led to Akiko-san's hospital room, then she looked away, "My younger self doesn't know what trust is anymore. And she subconsciously kills what she can't trust…"

There was a pause, and the place suddenly became silent…

Yoh's head turned to look at the door to Akiko-san's room, which had been left opened, he heard a few muffles, maybe the sound of people talking. Suddenly a figure was seen through the crack of the door, a falling figure that came crashing down to the ground. A second figure appeared in front of the first and Yoh stopped abruptly in partial confusion when he saw something in the second figure's hand. The second figure turned its back to the first began to walk slowly towards the side of the room where the bathroom was located. The figure seemed to be taking his/her time to its destination. Yoh squinted to get a better look at the object it held in its hand. He let out a gasp when he realized the weapon…a large knife

Knowing that something strange was going on in that room, it seemed Yoh couldn't move off from the couch even if he tried, he looked at Anna, who dully looked at the floor that reflected her visage perfectly.

"We Shaman Queens learn one thing when we are born into this world…," she began to speak once more. She raised her head and looked at Yoh's frightened face in shame before saying, "'kill those who you know you can't trust.'"

Yoh's breathing elevated quickly as the figure slowly advanced towards the bathroom and then disappeared from his sight, meaning it was about to reach it's destination. He couldn't stand it, he knew something was about to happen, he could feel it from the nauseate sensation he was feeling in the pit of his stomach. Without meaning to, he shut his eyes tight and threw his head on to Anna's lap right before he heard the very thing he feared.

…a wretched scream that echoed through the whole hospital to announce the death of yet another person…

* * *

**  
**

* * *

**Hoshi No Kissu Arc IV**

Tao Rem, having just finished his most Herculean training of the day, laid on one of the rocks surrounding the Tao's current estate on the Mu continent. His newest spirit, Bason, faithfully waited beside him, wondering what could be going through the mind his always confident master. "Bason," the Tao suddenly called in a rather loud voice, breaking the previously calm silence.

Bason winced in surprise "H-hai, Bocchama?"

"Tell Ju that after my shower I'm going to the center of this damn island to kill time," he ordered, standing and walking away in the process of speaking, "And tell her not to be surprised if I come back with blood on my clothing, time is not the only thing I'm going to kill." He heard his spirit mutter a 'yes Bocchima,' and fade away behind him.

Rem stared at the sky for a while longer, once again becoming lost in his own annoying thoughts. For some damn reason, everyday he felt as if his life was drifting away from him, like now that he had become heir and leader of the Tao's he had no other reason to practice his shamanic training, to try to become stronger. It had felt that way ever since his father's murder. The day in that blood-filled month where Tao blood was shed around the palace back in China.

He remembered that day perfectly as if it was yesterday……

He had walked into the Tao mansion after another on of his many training sessions. That day he had managed to slice through 332 of the Tao zombies in just three minutes. _"That was your best yet, Lord Rem," _his trainer had said to him rather nervously. He had just looked at his trainer for about two seconds before he was sliced in two with Rem's Kwan Dao. _"Three-hundred and thirty-three," _he had told the corpse of his trainer, _"that's a much better number."_

When he had gotten inside, the whole mansion was incredibly silent, neither a servant nor member of the family spoke. He smelled blood, but at the moment thought it could just be him, besides, the smell of blood was normal in the Tao household.

That was when he saw his father, lying on the floor, covered in the same liquid he had seen on his trainer a few minutes ago. When Rem saw that, he actually felt something ache inside him for the first time, at least, until he heard that night the cause of his father's death.

"_It turns out that one of the servants had seen someone walking around the palace a bit before the murder occurred," _one of the maidens had whispered nearby, _"But the servant will not say who it was."_

"_Who's the servant?"_

"_Xiaolong, I believe…"_

Xiaolong was [and still is] Ju's servant, he was taken by force to serve the Tao family due to his excellent martial art skills. He was a shaman too, but he would not use up his furyoku for any reason, making him vulnerable under the sight of Rem's Kwan Dao.

"_Who killed my father, Xiaolong?" _Rem had asked Xiaolong heatedly, _"I know that you know! So tell me you bastard!"_

"_Niisama, stop it!" _Ju had cried, when she saw the Kwan Dao only a millimeter away from her servant's neck. Rem tried to ignore her, but she was clinging to his clothing and trying her hardest to pull him back, _"Niisama!!!"_ Rem had allowed his younger sister to cling to him for one more second before shoving her away into a small double-door closet that was behind him, then without warning he had closed it shut by placing a bar through the handles. _"Niisama!! NIISAMA!!" _she shouted while punching the other side of the closet door.

"_Stay in there. Don't think of coming out of there if you know what's good for you!" _He ordered coldly.

Ren turned back to Ju's servant. Xiaolong was on the floor holding his upper body up with his elbows, which made his muscles look larger than usual. His short bushy black hair was covering his eyes therefore Rem could not see his expression. When he was a part of the Ming Dynasty he had worn only pants. After The Tao family had killed off most of the Ming family, Xiaolong was taken captive as well as the Ming princess. Xiaolong had to look more presentable so he was given black and green Dao Pao Quan with the symbol of the Tao Family on the chest of the outfit. Although Xiaolong was five years older than Rem, the Tao was never frightened of the servant. _"If you don't have a death wish, Xiaolong, then I suggest you tell me who killed my father."_

The servant chuckled, _"You know, it's funny Tao, because your father said something similar to Hime-sama before he raped her."_

The Tao brought the blade closer to his lowly servant, _"What did you just say?" _he asked menacingly.

"_Your father raped my Hime-sama, and then through her out to the street, where she was raped by three drunk males repeatedly. It seemed likely that she would come back and get revenge."_

"_You're lying!"_

"_That's something your father did, not me! He had an overwhelming desire for Hime-sama, despite his marriage to your mother! He lured Hime-sama into his quarters by pretending to be sick and desiring her to cook a special meal for him. He ignoring her protests, he raped her. Then through her out in the streets to die!! He raped her and two-timed your mother!"_

Tao Rem felt something burn inside of him as he recalled that memory, the memory of his father cheating on his mother with the princess of the Ming Dynasty, whom the Taos had lowered to an imprisoned servant. When Xiaolong told him this, the Tao did not expect his mother to be right outside the door listening to all that Xiaolong had shouted. He did not expect his mother to lose her will to live and fall into a sleep in which she would never wake from.

….No, he did not expect any of it………

Ju had cried for a whole month in her room, never leaving her quarters to eat with Rem or any other member of the family that was left. And during that month, many clans tried to take over the Tao palace, tons of Tao blood had been shed in that month. The only direct descendents that were left were Ju and Rem, so Rem had trained his hardest since then so that Ju would never have to lose another family member ever again. But after all the family members she lost, Ju was not longer able to cry…

Since then, Rem trained with the same question always in his head, was his training worth anything? He trained so he could live, what good was living if there were still people like his father on this earth. People that made people like his sister become victims of their actions. Then he heard of the Shaman Fight. It was the perfect opportunity to rid the earth of people like his father, and he thought he was the best shaman to win.

That was until he met Asakura Hao…

"_Make all the excuses you want. It won't change the fact that your father cheated on your mother and now your sister has lost her ability to cry. Stop being so weak. That girl has made you soft, and you can't be like that if you want to become Shaman King."_ Asakura had said to him during his entrance exam for the Shaman Fight.

"_Urusai, you bastard!"_

"_The truth hurts sometimes, Tao Rem."_

After that Hao had walked up to him grabbed his wrist and made his fingers lightly slap his forehead, _"You hit me once," _he announce, holding up an oracle bell, with a playful grin, _"Here's your pass to move on to the next round!"_ he placed Rem's oracle bell in the Tao's hand, _"You'll be very fun to watch Tao Rem…"_

He suddenly felt like he had a large void of cracking lightning where his heart was supposed to be. The burning came back. He felt sick. His fingers closed his eyes again. A few deep breaths weren't enough. It took almost five minutes this time. When he looked up he seemed almost angry.

During his entrance exam he had fought with all of his furyoku and he couldn't hit Asakura once! That guy…it didn't look as if he broke a sweat, while Rem felt he was about to pass out! That guy _let _him pass for some reason…but why?

He shook his head in anger. It made him very pissed when of thinking about that Asakura. In fact, thinking of him made him want to just kill somebody, namely Asakura Hao.

A few voices in the distance made the Tao awaken from his troubling thoughts, he raised a brow in interest, _'Trespassers, huh?' _he mused as the voices became louder. He could hear two of the trespassers talking.

"Master Rowland, are you sure we are allowed to do this?"

"The Patch Officials never said we couldn't eliminate the competition early did they?"

"But I hear there is a female that lives here, are you willing to kill a female?"

Rem hid himself behind several trees, he saw about thirteen men, most likely English, walking with caution, several spirits floating over them.

"Well if the female is attractive, why not enjoy ourselves, boys?"

Rem clutched his Kwan Dao tightly as several of the men laughed and whooped. He was disgusted……

"We'll just get rid of the males and get the girl for ourselves, I'm willing to share!"

'_Last straw, you bastards.' _He ran over and stabbed his Kwan Dao through the first man in the group, the one who was closest to Rem's home, he pulled out his weapon andlet the body fall to the ground. The English men winced at the sudden attack and stared at the body of their comrade before looking at the Tao, his back was turned to them.

"I'm giving all of you three seconds to get your damned asses out of my territory," he said in a low voice.

All of the men began shaking at the murderous sound in Rem's voice, but of course the leader of the group had to prove his idiocy and say, "Just who do you think you are, boy?"

Rem turned around slowly and the men took a step back in horror. "Do you have a death wish?" He asked coldly, his eyes so wild with rage that you could see sparks of lighting within them. The aura around him was dark and full of rage. He pointed his weapon at the lowlifes. "It a 'Destroy or be destroyed' world. So guess who'd going to be destroyed?"

* * *

Horrible yells followed sickening cracks as bones of the English men snapped cleanly. The next two seconds featured a flurry of movement racing through the ranks of the stupid men who dared positioned at the front of the Tao residence.

"Hmm," Rem pondered with a taunting disinterest. He cast a look at the defeated men, ignoring their howls of pain as they clutched at their legs and arms. He would normally let his victims live with pain for along while, but he was extremely pissed. After what was only a few seconds, Rem was standing in the center of a circle of bloody bodies, each one left without a spirit inside the now corpse. The only untainted and unharmed body was the leader's, _'How fun…'_

The syndicate boss was cowering like a coward within the bodies of his dead comrades. As Ren began a slow walk toward him, stepping on and over bodies along the way, he pushed himself up against a tree, not even thinking of running away. By the time he stopped in front of him, the leader was reduced to a quivering idiot. Rem scoffed at him.

"It's because of people like you that I wanted to cleanse the world," he said. "You don't even deserve to be called human."

He raised his Kwan Dao high.

"It's a 'destroy or be destroyed' world, Rowland," He added bringing the blade down to finish him off.

But it never made contact. Rem looked behind him to see Ju holding the back of the handle.

"That's enough, Rem," she said calmly, her face looking more angelic than he had ever seen it. The older Tao hesitated for a moment, his younger sister only stared at back at his gaze, "Niisama, let go."

After a few more seconds of glaring at her Rem whirled around and walked off, making his way back to the palace, "Fine, if you want to be raped, I don't care." Then he was out of sight.

Ju turned her gaze to the man that was thankfully grabbing on to her leg, he kissed her feet, she placed the palm of her hand on her cheek and looked down at the man, "Oh Xiaolong," she said in faux concern, "What a pitiful English man..."

Xiaolong didn't look at the man, he hated watching people die, it reminded him of that night where the Taos came in and brutally murdered everyone he knew. Kyo and Shu simply gazed at the man with dull expressions, becoming disturbed by the fact that the man was now kissing Ju's feet, "Do you wish for one of us to dispose of him for you, Ju-sama?" Kyo dully asked, ready for whatever orders the younger Tao wished to give them.

She gave a malicious smile. "Clever toy," she spoke up, opening her fan in an attempt to cover the sight of the man below her getting slaughtered. She heard the man below her gasp and cough uncontrollably, feeling some warm liquid get on the bottom of her clothing, and within a few seconds Kyo returned to his place beside Shu and Xiaolong. Ju smiled, "Thank you, Kyo," she thanked him, bringing down her fan and looking at the slaughtered body beside her feet. _'Niisama is not the only one who needs to let off steam…' _she reminded herself.

Xiaolong finally turned his gaze to the body at his master's feet, noticing the blood stains on Ju's clothes, "Ju-sama, you got blood on your clothes…" he told her.

Ju looked at him and smiled, "It'll be bad if Niisama sees this. Xiaolong, I'll need some help changing."

* * *

"Feeling less troubled Niisama?" Ju asked her brother. Ever since the older Tao's encounter with Asakura Hao, that question has become a daily thing between the two.

"Shut up," he remarked as he usually did. Ju looked at him for a while with a worried expression before sighing and placing her head on the shoulder of one of her newest zombies. The young Tao would usually dispose of her 'toys' after using them once, but she seemed to have grown attached to these two. Maybe it's because they were made to look a bit more realistic to a human, something that Ju has never met. But if humans looked like Kyu and Shu…well…she'd like to see more of them.

"Tell me Ju, what does that Asakura have that I don't?" he hissed in angered question.

Ju lifted her head off of her zombie, Shu's, shoulder. She closed her eyes and slowly began fanning herself slowly, "Do you wish for the long list or the short one?" she asked in a musing way.

Ren glared at the girl standing on the opposite side of the room, gritting his teeth, "Whatever," he replied.

The young Tao opened her eyes and smirked, amused at her older brother's aloof attitude.

"Well he seems to have plenty of loyal followers, plus he's trained in hell for a several hundred years so he's experienced, and it seems those loyal followers of his are rather strong…I hear they all have a shamanic ability…" Ju pondered for a moment, "Well four may not have it…maybe three if you count an itako as special…" she spoke aloud…more to herself rather than her brother. "I'm not sure about that crimson-eyed nee-san though…"

Tao Rem's grip on the towel tightened, then he looked back and gave her a disgusted look. "Are you jealous of her?"

Her face turned red in anger of such suggestion. "N-No! Of course not!" she cried. "It's just…"

"What?" He was getting annoyed. He hated feeling dirty, and Ju was stalling his bath time for too long. "Just spit it out already!"

She scowled. "It seems Asakura is attracted to her…" she stuck out her tongue in disgust of the thought, Rem began to chuckle. "What are you laughing at?"

The purple head Tao began making his way past her and stopped in front of her, "Why wouldn't he? That crimsoned eyed girl seems to

"Niisama, do you remember what the last thing was you said to Father before his murder?" the young green haired girl asked calmly.

"No."

"Well I remember perfectly," Ju said as a matter-of-factly, "You turned around, enraged of the news of you having to one day have a wife chosen for you. You told Father, 'I refuse to participate in something as damned as having a wife!'"

Rem smirked at the memory and in his defense he said, "Like hell I was going to marry a woman chosen by Father, that man was damned in his own failed marriage. I never wanted to be anything like him."

"Of course not," Ju whispered as she stood. "But also Nii-sama, who'd honestly want to marry a heartless brute like you?" By the time her words had registered in his head, she had already walked past him, making her way out the door.

The Tao, suddenly enraged by his younger sister's words, threw his Kwan Dao at the mull post beside Ju's head. The smaller merely stopped walking, looked at the weapon without moving her head, and smirked. "Would you like me to repeat my words, Niisama?"

"Only if you dare to say them again."

"You see Niisama, that's why we can chat so casually," The green haired Tao chuckled, as she yanked the Kwan Dao off the mull post of the door way and handed it to Kyo.

"What the hell are going on about now, Ju?" Rem spat as Kyo threw the Kwan Dao into his hands.

"You and I have something in common, Niisama," Ju spoke up, ignoring Rem's strange and deadly looks, she turned around and gave him a gentle smile, "While the whole world is scared of us, you are not afraid of I and I'm not afraid of you. And that is why I'll do my favorite older brother a favor."

Rem raised a brow and watched Ju walk away from him and had her zombies close the door behind her, leaving him alone within the house in silence.

* * *

**Hao's P.O.V**

_"Demon child! Demon child!"_

_The cruel and false accusations went on for several minutes as the village children kept pushing a small boy with long hair, back and forth between the girls of the group, while they pushed the boys threw hard rocks at his frail body to threaten him._

_"Fox child! Demon's child! Come on! Show your true form!"_

_"Devil's child," one of those boys spat in disgust. "My dad saw it, you know. He saw your mother talking to herself!"_

_"Urusai..." the smaller boy, the one they were tormenting, whispered._

_"Oi, what did you say, demon-chibi?" a girl asked as she shoved the boy to the ground, "Are going to admit it?"_

_"Urusai!" he yelled, pushing himself up from the dirt. "Okaa-san is not a demon!!!"_

_As he yelled those last words, a boy tightened his grip on the rock he was holding, "Oi, demon!" he shouted suddenly throwing the rock at the boy, "Know your place!!!" The rock made a harsh impact on the boy's forehead; he came crashing to the ground in tears from the pain. A warm liquid slowly dripped from the wound, it travel from its origin to his lips, where he tasted its salty substance, proving to him it was his own blood. _

_"Oi, Demon-chibi-san," a girl spoke as the other children began to leave, having enough fun for the day, "The towns people have summoned a Monk to get rid of your mother," she turned her back on him a giggled, "If Kami allows it, today is your last day ruining our lives. Sayonara!" with that she ran off after her friends to go back to their village. _

_The boy child on the ground did not move, he didn't speak, he just stayed in the position the children had left him in. Though the pain from his wound hurt, but it was fading, what wouldn't fade were the words of those kids, those humans, calling his mother something she was not._

_The current sunset of that day was slowly becoming covered by dark clouds, making the night come early. Nothing could be heard for those long minutes that he stayed there, trying to overcome his hate for the people who harmed him, that moment was when the heavy sound of foot steps began to be heard throughout the village. They began faint and hardly audible, but they grew in sound, the boy lifted his head and watched as men from his own village carried swords, sharp sticks, and sticks on fire to light their way. A large man lead them, his calm and greedy face somehow both frightened and disgusted the boy to an extent where he began to run towards his home. _

'_If Kami allows it, today is your last day ruining our lives.'_

_He ran harshly, going through a route where he would not have to pass the men and their weapons, the pain in his bones was great, but nothing seemed more important at the moment than the need to get to his mother, to warn her, and to run away with her…_

_The path finally became familiar as he came across a line of bushes that surrounded his house, he hid inside them as he heard the deep and mocking voices of men._

_The distant voices grew louder as he circled his house while in the bushes, he could hear protest and laughter that frightened the small fellow. But it was that same fear that made him look over the bushes to the front of his home. He could see everything, his house, the men and his mother in the rough grasps of several men. They pulled her by her arms and dragged her to the fat monk who touched her face as if caressing it. His mother spoke something to the monk and then received a hand that smacked her left cheek and knocked her to the ground._

_At the impact of the slap, the boy hid back in the bushes. He had never seen his mother in pain and to see her in it now pained him. But the words of the men pained him even more as they finally grew loud enough for him to hear…_

_"Let's just burn the entire house with her!" one of the men shouted, "She will surely show her true form!" many cheers and whoops followed the man's suggestion._

_The boy shoved his head up the bushes to witness more, but his mother was no longer in sight. A whirlwind of feelings, far beyond anything a child of his age could sustain, took hold of him. It was dark, no moon lightened the sky yet, he was hiding, he couldn't see his mother, the scary men were shouting and laughing loud and a terrible aura surrounded them and the whole scenario. He had never felt these feelings or had witness the burning of a mother. He was forced to cover his mouth as the flames began to surround the house and engulf his mother inside. The men began laughing hysterically as if they were maniacs, they began cheering and handing over money to the monk as a gratitude of thanks. It was sick…_

_The boy didn't move. He simply couldn't. Only his eyes widened, and tears started falling from them like silent rain as he saw his small house started to crumble in the hands of the flames. The men and the monk kept laughing and celebrating as everything slowly dissolved into nothing, nothing but ashes, ashes of the place he calmly slept, ashes of the place he came for comfort, ashes of the only person who ever loved him..._

_"Okaa-san…" he softly called in a faint whisper, as if calling her would make her appear before him once more._

_No one heard him. The crackling sounds of the wood weren't as faded in reality as they were in his mind, so they didn't allow the men to hear his whimpering voice._

"_Okaa-san…." He tried once more in a choked yell, as though the flames where also taking away his voice and every part of him along with his mother._

"_OKAA-SAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"_

"Hao-nii-san!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

My eyes flew open with the rest of me feeling slightly annoyed. There was that dream again…That annoying dream I've had for the past week. I blinked and felt my gaze shift to my left as I noted my fire spirit hovering almost eerily beside me in his spirit ball form. I smiled humorlessly at it, for some reason, the abysmal gaze of this Spirit's emerald eyes quirked a strange amusement in me. I petted its round orbed head as I chuckled at it, "You can never find any peacefulness in the world today." I told it humorously, it gave me a curt nod.

The events that happen to me, are just a reminder of my goal, obviously they served no higher purpose to me than keeping myself strictly on my path forward. That was perfectly all right though – I wouldn't like to forget the reason why I had the need to end a world with humans. But certain reminders ruin my time to myself. A perfectly reasonable example is happening at this moment. Just when I was able to clear my mind with something as simple as a bath, here comes someone to place worries within my head.

I turned my gaze forward, knowing already who I was to expect. In just a few seconds, Arisu was already in my sight, running towards me at her fullest speed. _'Annaka-san won't answer her door, I'm worried, Niisan!!'_

I buried my head in my crossed arms. That girl has been here for a week now and she was still as stubborn as ever, I found it quite amusing, but the others were annoyed. I, of course, could care less of what they thought.

"Hao-nii-san…" Ari's voice called above me, her skinny finger poking the top of my wet head. Wow, this girl won't stop will she? I'll admit it, there are times when she makes my day so much better with her strange comments and childish attitude, but other times…

"Ari, has the Maiden of Stubbornness not taught you that a girl must not disturb a man while in the bath?" I asked her.

'_I didn't see anything,' _"I didn't see anything, really," she swore, "But I was worried of Annaka-nee-san, she won't open her door…I taught that maybe she had passed out on her floor…"

Something spark inside my head, "Why would she pass out?"

"Well…" _'She hasn't eaten for the whole week…'_

Ahhh, no wonder she's so uptight. "Ari, cover your eyes," I ordered, but of course the small girl did more than that, she got up ran to the nearest tree, hid behind it, turned her back on me, and covered her eyes. I rolled mine, there would be no reason to cover her eyes if her back was turned to me…

With my hands touching the ground beneath me, I pushed myself up and immediately tied my yukata around my wet naked body. That girl…did I not tell her she should eat? Honestly, I thought Miss Joan D'Arc was the Maiden of Stubbornness. I could feel my hair's dampness trespass through the back of my yukata and onto my back. Lovely, I did not even have time to get dry…curse that girl. "You know I'd rather not face that girl today, my morning has already been ruined enough…"

"I want _your_ help, Hao-nii-san!" Her voice had developed just a hint of determined desperation.

"Of course you do," I remarked, not answering the plea at all. "Though I wonder what made you attempt to get her to eat this past week. Whatever was it that gave you no time to persuade the girl to eat?"

That was it. The question she had been dreading. And there was I, staring at her with such an exaggerated interest that she doubt for a moment that I was making her feel guilty on purpose. She was right. "...no answer, eh?"

"I'm sorry…"

The only answer I gave her was a stony silence.

Even I had to admit – Annaka-san was quite… interesting, in her own right. I doubt that any of my followers have viewed the girl such as I do – with the exception of maybe Annai – "Hmph…" The sound accompanied a tiny, humorless smile, "Well I guess I have no other alternative now that I have postponed my own bathing…"

-----------

"Well, Hao-nii-san?"

For the past fifteen minutes Ari has been going at the fact that Annaka-san and I would make 'pretty babies'. Although I personally do not mind just the simple thought, I have not answered her once since she had begun to ask me.

"Some people really are too meddlesome for their own good, don't you think?" I posed in a casually to the Spirit of Fire, looking up at it from its great height above us.

Ari frowned beside me, "Who are you talking about, Hao-nii-sama?"

"Perhaps a person who apparently has been constantly asking random questions about a same person repetitively," I said dryly, sliding my gaze a bit sideways, a twisted mix of amusement and a smidgen of annoyance possibly forming in it.

Ari blinked for a second and raised her right index finger, pointing at herself. I nodded and continued walking. Ari tried to stay silent.

What is it about silence that causes people to want to bring up whatever conversation they find most fitting? The picture that came to mind was that of a silent, watchful viper that may or may not strike even if you didn't move an inch.

During times as this find myself recalling things of the night before. What sort of event could trouble my mind to an extent where I become puzzled? My arrogant subconscious. Since _that_ carbon copy of my mother showed herself in my presents every dream has been the same. Voices hollering crazed yells of demons and devil's children, flames burning, so bright in their marvelous passion, and the image of my mother being reduce to nothing more than a horrid corpse of ashes at my feet…

The knuckles on my fist turned white. Depression had never suited me. Yet, I couldn't recall feeling so…helpless?

I heaved a small sigh.

Foolish. Helpless. Words meant for the weak. By god, I was NOT weak.

Weakness is something that I saw in the humans. Humans were the helpless ones, so hopelessly stupid about what they didn't understand. Their feeble, foolish attempts to destroy the unexplainable were wild, erratic, and they never cared who would end up hurt as long as it wasn't themselves…

That very thought was threatening to stir the old feeling of fury and irritation inside me, the feeling I felt when I saw my mother's killer face to face.

Last night after having the repeating dream, Annai was sitting outside, my door gazing out to whatever she wished to see. Where I was standing, I could see her face was as dull as ever. _"Another one of those dreams?"_ she had asked me.

"Yes. Another one of those dreams…" I couldn't help muttering. Ari looked up at me curiously, but she didn't question me, she knows how troublesome subconscious images are. She kept quiet and looked away, something Annai had taught her to do…

Annai…

I could never imagine that girl smiling, laughing, or doing any of the things my mother did. So why did I feel an attachment as if she were my mother? She was a similar image to my mother, but not the same. Annaka-san had my mother's exact features…the blonde hair, the fragile body, the itch she had on her hand whenever I did that seemed to her as a nuisance…

"Hao-nii-san, what's bothering you?" Ari asked worriedly, cutting straight to the point as she always did, like a child.

I felt myself almost cringed. I shot her a look that I was sure held a brief yet quite alarming spike of my displeasure. To her credit, Ari didn't flinch, nor did she back down. I'm not surprised, Ari has the innocence of a child, she does not fear what she trust, she does not believe being honest and curious will hurt anyone. If only the world could think like a child.

"Bothering me?" echoed the words as if the words were unknown to me.

A drop of sweat dropped from her forehead, "It's just…" her index finger pointed in front of us, "We've been standing in front of these walls for five minutes now…"

My eyes shifted in front of me, sure enough there was my current residence…well, haven't I become obvious…

I looked to my side, Ari's large blue eyes were staring me down with their childish patience…she wanted an answer…

My teeth clenched. "What's bothering me is the fact that if there weren't so many walls, we could get to our destination a bit more rapidly than we are currently going…" I paused. "Maybe I should burn them."

"Iie!!!!!" she screamed latching her pitiful arms around my right one, as if her feathered weight was going to cause my arm to stop its movement.

I chuckled at her foolishness. "You're so small, Ari…"

She frowned, haha such a child indeed…

"What's with all the damn noise?" _'Oh, of course the damn nymph…'_

Good morning to you too, Tamao...

My day just turned to be…less entertaining than I wished for it to be…

I looked back to see my pink haired admire looking out her doorway, her long rose-like hair was dripping water from its very tips. She too wore a white yukata around her body, but as always she tied it tightly around her waist so her curves showed in every direction. Yes, she does it on purpose. Tamao's eyes narrowed as they continued to glare imaginary holes through Ari's frail body. _'Noisy echo, go and disappear in a cave. Your damn presence makes me want to rid myself of my own being just to get away from the cacophonies caused by you.'_

I felt my eyes narrow…

"Before you go kill yourself because of the horrid noise, Tamao, it'd be best to realize that I am also standing before you," I mused, "Or is my presence also that bothersome to you? Perhaps you'd kill yourself knowing that I am the cause of Ari's 'cacophonies'."

The girl's face didn't change to the least, she just took a look at me and my wet hair and looked away, seeming annoyed, "Not at all, Hao-sama…" she whispered harshly.

I smirked. Whether she'll admit to it or not, she was attracted to my wet figure.

Ari looked from me to Tamao and pulled at the sleeve of my yukata, "Hao-nii-sama, we got to go!" _'Annaka-san….!'_

A spark struck within Tamao's head, "Where are you two going?" she asked, her rose eyes trying hard to strike thorns through Ari's body. Ah, jealousy…how you affect women…

"Apparently my assistance is needed to awaken a certain sleeping beauty that is the newest addition to our group," I stated calmly.

Although we are currently standing only a few feet apart it took me several minutes to notice that the water escaping from her eyelids was not coming from her wet hair. Fake tears…she's very good at making them…or perhaps these were tears of anger? Well her face was starting to match her hair…

She wiped them away with one of her white yukata sleeves, as if they were just water and not her salty tears, and then tightened her hands into fists. "Do you enjoy laughing at me behind my back, Hao?" She asked as her eyes narrowed slightly. Her teeth slowly clenched together.

I casually raised a brow and shrugged my shoulders, "I'm positive that don't know what you speak of, Tamao."

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She began to yell randomly, Ari winced and hid behind me. Tamao has always had the habit of being very abstruse when she was angry, this would be one of those times.

"So selfish," a voice piped up unexpectedly. Tamao's eyes narrowed as she glared at Ari.

"What the hell did you say, you echo?" she asked menacingly.

Ari, instead of looking abashed at her own rudeness, only grinned upon seeing the furious blush and heated indignance forming across Tamao's face.

Female fights are amusing…

"I see you two are having fun," I spoke up, feeling my damp hair sway slightly to the side as the wind blew around the outside of the house. "Now," I began, "if you excuse me, would you mind following me, Ari?" Ari scrambled to obey and was at my side in a second.

"Afraid I'll tear the girl apart, Hao?" Tamao called behind us. _'This brat needs to disappear in a cave…'_

Ari turned to speak, but I was not in the mood for more childish games…

"To be completely honest, I do doubt Ari here would be able to survive any more mistreatment on your part, Tamao," I answered dryly. "But worry not, you can have her after I am done with her." I smiled, "Good day, Tamao." With that, we walked away in silence once more.

"Jealousy is a powerful thing, isn't it Ari?" I began speaking up randomly, it was just small talk until we made it to our destination, "It can take over the thoughts of a grown woman with just a few words. Promise me you'll never turn out like that."

"Mm," she replied. _'I'll try my best…'_

I paused in my walking, "Do my desires displease you?" I asked as I noticed her saddened tone.

"Ano… Hao-nii-san? Are you really going to give me to Tamao-san after this?"

I couldn't help but chuckle, "You're naïve. No I am not. You are far more useful to me than a toy I can give Tamao to let off steam." I assured her.

Her eyes looked at me for a second then looked ahead, "She's like a demon, Hao-nii-san, and it's scary."

I felt my right eyebrow twitch. How long has it been since I've heard someone being called a demon? By now I would expect my followers to know the difference, although Ari is a child I do not take those words lightly. "Ari, you know the meaning of a demon, am I right?" –She nodded her head– "Then use that word at an appropriate time when speaking."

'…_but I've seen a demon…and she the eyes…the eyes of a demon.'_

The eyes of a demon, eh?

Part of me can not help but to think that those eyes are the eyes of hatred. After all at birth Tamao killed her mother…

* * *

**NORMAL P.O.V**

Tamao watched as Hao slowly left with the annoying echo following behind. She saw Ari turned her head back only to meet with Tamao's glare. She quickly turned her head and turned the corner with Hao, no longer in the pink haired girl's sight.

"Damn him," she hissed in rage, "That man…" she tightened her hand and swung her fist to a tree, "I really hate him!" the tree sliced itself in half and fell to Tamao's feet. She glared at the tree with disgust.

"Things that live and breathe are a nuisance," she spat, she took a long look at the tree before she knelt down to touch it, "You think you have a purpose, don't you," she spoke to it as her hand slowly made its way to the fallen wood, "You have no purpose in living, there's no need for you to give oxygen to a race that will one day kill itself."

Her hand finally reached the tree and as soon as she touched it the grand oak withered and turned to black dust before her touch. She dully looked at the black dust then raised her hand to stare at her palm. "Because I've been keeping my true self from Hao it's been a while since a plant has withered under my touch," she told herself, tightening her hand into a fist, "That idiot…I hate the fact that I have to rely on that man."

She got up and began walking into the forest, her body was feeling weak, her head was becoming ridiculously heavy for her to keep up. She stopped midway into the woods and fell on her knees. Something was pounding hard against her head, pounding louder and louder and louder until it became painstakingly arduous.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!"

* * *

**ANNAKA'S P.O.V**

Something echoed through the trees as I continued walking throughout the copse. It sounded as if the earth was in pain, like the pain of a woman giving birth to something. But of course…I would never be able to know that feeling. At least, I will not know the feeling of bearing a child to the man you love, because I know for a fact that no matter who he will be, I will never fall in love with whoever is Shaman King. Because I…cannot fall in love…

I have no say in many things, but when I was young I thought I would have a say in who I was to love. That was an ignorant childish dream, it was because of my childish ways that I was robbed of the feeling of love along all other feelings a normal person is to have.

I…will never forgive Nee-san for that.

But why have a child when Ultimo was childish enough to be my own child? The idiot went into the woods on his own. I knew for a fact he would be lost. And the idiot really got lost.

"Honestly you're the most stupid man ever, Ultimo," I criticized while dragging him by the collar of his cloak, "I'm pretty sure Nee-san gave you the brain of a child."

Ultimo just whimpered, "I'm sorry Heika-sama!" he apologized for the damn fifth time.

"Shut up," I ordered, "You always cause me trouble, you baka."

"But I was just trying to find a way back to Joan-sama," he complained as I continued to drag him.

"I don't care, honestly you're such a nuisance."

Besides I doubt that Asakura would let us go so easily. That man is much more stubborn than Nee-san…

But yet part of me doesn't really feel like leaving and going to Nee-san either…why? For some reason just the thought of leaving this damn place makes me feel as if something is tugging at my heart, as if my heart was a pumping harp where someone other than I is playing the strings…

But that's stupid…

A heart does not have strings to pull and also…no one else will control me other than myself. I'll make sure of it.

_**Rustle **_

_**Rustle**_

My feet stopped moving suddenly, as if they were trying to tell me something. Ultimo looked up at me, his ears twitching as he too heard the rustle in the bushes as I did. "Heika-sama…" I let go of his collar and nodded. This presence, there was nothing human about this aura I felt…

_**Rustle**_

_**Rustle**_

"_**DDDDIIIIEEEE"**_

Hmmm….

"Ultimo, go hide behind that tree over there," I ordered, my eyes pointing to the biggest tree in our current location.

"B-But!"

My eyes narrowed, "Are you going to disobey me?" I asked with a taunting glare, within seconds he was out of sight.

The rustle in the bushes behind me continued, this time they were accompanied by footsteps. Heavy footsteps.

The sound of falling trees filled the silent woods, and loud screeching came from the direction of the noise. This noise, this aura, this horrible feeling of death…I knew what was coming this way…

Oni. Spirits full of hate and revenge that increases through time. They continuously collect gather venomous thoughts and hence slowly take shape…they are the Devil's demons…

"**I smell Kami…"** It yelled right before the woods around me where stripped from their roots within the dirt and crashed in front of me, just two inches in front of my feet. And sure enough there it stood. A large ugly beast so huge it hovered over the large oaks, it's red body built with rock-like flesh, a horn in the place of where a nose was supposed to be poked out with a sharp end. His sharp teeth clenched together closing his wide mouth, his repugnant and immoral orbs or yellow gazed at me with appetence. **"I smell Kami…" **it growled at me as it took another step forwards. I stared at its large mouth, a blue fog was coming from his mouth. This guy had just tasted his former devilish companions.

"How disgusting," The oni winced at my voice, "Let me guess," I became, "You're very gluttonous and wish to eat all the spirits of living things. You're greedy and do not wish for any other to come and steal what you consider your food. You're lustful of the venomous thoughts of humans, especially those of wrath, pride, anger, and envy, because those thoughts is exactly what make you…" the creature stared at me his eyes not pulling away from my body, my reflection in his eye was seen very clearly. It wanted to get rid of me. "As I thought." I paused "You're nothing but one of the devil's disgusting creatures. I think you…should go and die."

It growled at me and made its move towards me. I smirked as I felt the furyoku from within me escape into my hand. It's been a while since I exorcised a demon. "O.S. Oni-Goroshi." The demon shrieked as I fissured his right arm. The sound was so obnoxious to my ears, it was the sound of metal clawing against the finest glass, screeching so loud my ears were bound to explode. I felt my face harden, "How annoying."

The oni fell to the ground in pain the way it scurried annoyed to the point where it just looked damn pathetic. "You're in pain are you not?" I asked it dully, it responded with another annoying screech. "Shall I rid you of your pain?"

"**Kami!!!! Die!!!**" it screeched again as it grabbed its arm and yanked off its remaining pieces, it got up and hovered over me by taking a large leap.

I looked at it as it came down before reacting. "What a stupid beast." The grip on my oversoul tightened as I placed both hands on it and raised it up. The stupid beast came down on its sharp blade, my oversoul barged into its gut where smoke began to pour out into the air from its wound. I smirked, "You smell Kami because I am a direct descendent of the Great Spirit, that being the case, isn't it my job to exterminated you?" the oni gagged, and I narrowed my eyes at it. Repulsively foolish glutton. "Go and die, Oni. Kokusatsu!"

* * *

**HAO'S P.O.V **

I paused for a moment at feeling some strange power coming from within the woods. It was strange, a very quire but powerful force, it was furyoku for sure. I felt something tugging at my yukata, I looked down at Ari's face, she was looking at me a very bewildered expression on her face, _'Hurry up Hao-nii-sama!' _

I looked back to woods for a second longer before I began to walk again. I had sense two types of powers for some reason. One was the furyoku of Onis, after a few minutes they had formed into one enormous power and began to move. Then it met with another power, one I had never sensed before… "Hao-nii-sama we're here!" I looked at the door in front of me and sighed. This was very troublesome. I would have to check those auras out later.

I walked over to the door and placed my hand on it. "As I thought no thoughts were coming from inside," I spoke up.

Ari blinked and looked at me, "Meaning…?" I slid the door open to let her see for herself, as I had expected the inside of the room was empty. "Hmm, not much to be said. She must've left her quarters without telling anyone." I pondered. I looked down and grinned when I noted the frightened expression on Ari's small face. "In other words she's not here."

Ari looked inside and frowned, "Is she trying to run away?" I frowned. I highly doubted that possibility. That girl has been here for a week now and has not once tried to escape. So why do it now? It would make no sense. So it's possible she intends on coming back.

But just incase…

"Ari, I want you to keep a look out for her. And while you do that," I casually added, "Find Emmetto."

She kept quiet for a while before asking, "What are you going to do Hao-nii-sama?" her voice was quivering.

I looked back at her small pixie-like self and smirked, "If she's out there with no one but that red-headed boy with her, then wouldn't she be in trouble if some uninvited guests appear?"

She stayed silent and gazed at me with blank horror, _'You're going to kill anyone who comes near here aren't you Hao-nii-sama…?"_

I turned around and smirked, in Ari's head I could see a malicious reflection of my face as I said my next words, "I'd rather call it eliminating those who are small."

* * *

**ANNAKA'S P.O.V**

Ultimo poked his head out from behind the tree, he looked at the now remaining bones of the Oni that lied at my feet. Then he rushed and wrapped his small arms around my waist, "UUWWAHH, Heika-sama is amazing!" he shouted excitedly.

I couldn't help but to narrow my eyes at his sudden contact. A vein popped on my temple, I lifted my foot and kicked the side of his face, annoyed. "You're too damn noisy!" I shouted at him.

He looked at me with childish eyes and pouted, "But Heika-sama is indeed the best, just as Joan-sama said to Ultimo." I rolled my eyes. Speaking in third person proved his childish way of being…

I turned my back on him, and I felt my tone go cold, "What are you saying, you kid? Because you're a runt it's only natural for you to long becoming strong. It's only natural that you are interested in those who, unlike yourself, have been strong since birth."

"That's not true, Heika-sama!" he shouted wrapping his arms around me once more like a five year old holding on to his mother, "All men wish to be strong, I wish to one day protect Heika-sama and Joan-sama with my life."

I looked away and sighed, "Fantasy and reality are two different things, moron."

"Heika-sama!-"

"Shut up." I ordered as there was a sudden sound. The rustle of bushes. There was another sound that escaped from behind us. A chuckle. No. A giggle. A female giggle...

"Indeed. You really are an amazing woman, Crimsoned-eyed-nee-san." I felt Ultimo's body freeze as he looked behind me, his body began to shake violently. I turned my head and met with a pair of green eyes above a purple fan. The owner of the eyes closed her fan and gave a confident smirk. Both the face and mind were familiar. "nǐ hǎo, Crimsoned-eyed-nee-san. It's been a while hasn't it?" she asked gently as if to mock my common sense. "I have come to ask a favor of you, Crimsoned-eyed-nee-san."

I boredly looked at her, "Favor?" I asked dully.

She smiled as she pulled out talismans, a handful of them, as she did this behind her over a hundred shadows appeared hidden in the trees. I didn't have to see them to know what they were. They were nothing less than her zombies. By her side were what was probably her two main ones. She continued to have a smug look on her face as she said her next words. "I was wondering if you could become the wife…of my dear Nii-sama Rem…"

…..

How disturbing…..

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**Konnichiwa! I know it's been forever and I'm sorry, but I've been incredibly busy and had the bad luck of getting viruses on my computer…yeah it's been bad. But I hope you can all forgive me and enjoy this chapter! AND PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!~~~~~**

**-YohAnna4eva/ Crystel Hidalgo**


	19. Hoshi no Kissu V

**A/N: ****I delay way too much now don't I? Sadly this story is far from over. But I'm still not giving up on it! To be honest I forgot all about this for a while. ********Sorry! Well anyway, those of you who don't read the Hoshi No Kissu Arc & just love the YohAnna parts [& I know who you are] the YohAnna parts are close to the bottom. :) I don't mind if you skip some of the story but you're not gonna get a few things later on in the future chapters. Anyway if all my characters are confusing you then I'll start adding some Shaman Files somewhere for your benefit :) **

**By the way...Any of you like smut? Just curious to know if I should add any...**

******REMEMBER TO REVIEW!**

* * *

**History's Flames;**

**Chapter 19**

**Shinra Private Academy**

"WHAT IS THIS?" Tao Ren cried out slamming his fist down against the table, causing every cup on the table to tip over and spill over.

Everyone at the table exchanged amused glances.

"Looks like the great Tao Ren is mad over his ancestor's little crush," Horo Horo laughed, "With Anna's former self!" the Anui boy was laughing so hard that he didn't even see Ren's blade two inches in front of him.

The Tao glared at the Anui, "Urusai!" he shouted in rage, ready to use his blade to slice the stupid Anui at any moment, he turned to Sati, "What kind of nonsense is that thing showing us?"

Sati looked at the Tao with her calm demeanor, she gave him a small smile, "All of this is one hundred percent true Tao Ren, nothing has been altered or-"

"-There is no way in hell that my ancestor was smitten of that…that…"

"I do not see why he couldn't have," Ryu spoke up, "Anna-dono is rather a beauty herself at the age of 15. Her former self at the age of 18 must've been a beauty beyond all others!" he stood up placing a foot on the table and tightening his hand into a fist, "Why Master Yoh is a lucky man! Such a woman as a wife! Anna-san is the most GORGEOUS WOMAN OF THESE 500 YEARS! NO WOMAN SURPASES HER BEAUTY! NO-"

Ryu stopped at the sound of a click and the cold feeling of metal up against his temple, he slowly moves his eyes and saw Marco at his side aiming his gun at him. "You dare to say such a thing in the presence of Jeanne-sama…!"

Lyserg stood up and grabbed Marco's arm, trying to pull it down. "Marco, please calm down!"

"THIS MAN INSULTED JEANNE-SAMA!"

"MARCO!"

Jeanne cleared her throat. At the sound of it, all three men froze, she looked at them and smiled. "I am very aware of Anna-san elegance and it does not bother me, but rather, it makes sense. The Shaman King will not simply become dazzled by anybody, the Shaman Queen must be someone who stuns a person from just a small sight of them. And Anna-san's allure fits well."

The room became silent as everyone mentally agreed. Then Manta began to laugh. Everyone turned and raised eyebrows at him. All of them were completely clueless as to what the midget was laughing at, most of them thought that Manta had finally lost his mind.

The blonde boy continued to laugh but his laughter died down in seconds, Ren crossed his arms and stared. "What the hell is so funny?"

Manta straightened himself and cleared his throat, "Nothing…" he said through his small chuckles, "It's just…it really _does _make sense when you think about it." He sat up and looked around as he spoke. "I also thought that Anna-san was really stunning. So when I first met her I was really shocked she was Yoh-kun's fiancé."

The room was silent, Ryu took a seat was again and nodded, "I, too, was stunned by Anna-dono. At first sight…I fell in love with her." Every one sweat dropped, "But being Yoh-dono's fiancé…I could not do a thing but simply wish to have a wife as her."

"Anna-dono is pretty," Faust finally spoke up, "but no one beats my Eliza."

Ren felt a vein pop at his temple, "All of you are idiots." He spat, "that woman is nothing different than the rest of them in this world."

"I don't know, Ren," Chocolove disagreed, "I also became smitten."

"Ugh! All of you are imbeciles!" the Tao yelled.

"Come on, Ren" Manta spoke, "You mean to tell me your first impression of Anna-san didn't have you thinking the same?"

The Tao sat down and crossed his arms proudly, "Unlike you idiots I have more self control over my hormones." With that said he took out a glass container of milk from his school bag and took a big victory gulp.

Jun smiled and placed her hand on her cheek, "Is that why you were red after your first encounter with her?"

Ren spat out the milk in his mouth, spraying it all over Horo. His face became red suddenly as he remembered and knew what his elder sister spoke of. The other shamans noticed Ren's change of skin tone and raised brows, a mischievous grin creeping on each of their faces. Horo, being one of them who had this grin plastered on his face, grabbed towel and wiped the milk off himself and his eyes goggling at Jun.

"Now this you have to tell!" Horo shouted in excitement.

"Ano baka!" Ren yelled smashing his fist on the base of Horo's head, "There's nothing to tell!"

"Then why are you turning so red, Ren?"

"Did you try to do something to Anna?"

"Were you stalking her?"

"Guys!" Manta shouted, feeling rather embarrassed of the way his friends were acting in front of the other female shaman, "Not to point out the obvious or nothing, but if Ren tried to do any of that to _Anna-san_ he would've probably ended up…."

"Dead?"

"Tied up in a futon and hanging upside down from the ceiling?"

"Disembodied?" Faust added, a sick smile creeping up his face.

The males in the room shivered. The females all wrinkled their faces in disgust.

Marco lowered his head and spoke low to where only Sati, who sat beside him, could hear, "Miss Sati, I forgive the rudeness these boys are displaying before your presence."

Sati simply smiled, "No worries, Marco-san," she assured, "I find it…_interesting _to find what boys talk about at such an age."

Rutherford frowned, "But with conversations such as this we are completely turning away from the topic."

Manta chuckled, "We could get back on track if Ren would just let Jun tell the story."

Lyserg pondered on what to do, then he turned to Jeanne who was calmly drinking her tea. She looked up and smiled at him and the green haired boy found himself blushing. That's when it occurred to him. "Jeanne-sama, ano, I have a bit of a request…"

Ren continued to yell at his friends who would begin to poke him and make fun of him in return. The Tao was about to take out his blade until he heard the Maiden call his name.

"Tao Ren," she spoke softly. Ren turned his head to look at the maiden and froze when he saw that she was smiling at him, light beaming brightly from behind her. All the Tao could do was stare. Jeanne continued to smile at him and added, "I'd also like to hear the story of you and Anna-san's first encounter."

The Tao stared for a split second at the Maiden's smiling face then sat down and smack his head against the table, leaving it at that position to keep the others from seeing the stains of red that had formed on his cheeks. "Fine." He mumbled.

Jun smiled, "Well then it was during Yoh's match with Faust during the Preliminary rounds. Ren had gone out for a walk around town…"

_Anna took her time walking back from the restaurant, 'Real love is complete trust,' that's what she had just said to the Patch official, who had warned her about Yoh's next opponent._

_Faust VIII…_

_A necromancer, one who can control the bodies of the dead. Anna's eyebrows furrowed as she frowned, an actual descendent of Faust. She had read stories of the man, stories that took place back in the 16__th__century; a descendent of a man with that much ability was bound to also be powerful._

_But she believed in Yoh, so nothing to worry about…right?_

_The itako sighed, either way she was still worried…_

_"Oi! Move out of the way kid!" a voice shouted over all the noise that occurred in the town. Anna turned her head; most people were trying to get out of the rain, running to the dry spot or nearest opened store. But one man was standing in the middle of the rain with nothing but a newspaper over his head, he was looking down, shouting nonstop at someone._

_Either way it was none of her business, the itako continued her walk in the rain when she noticed a store that sold raincoats. She walked to the door, about to open it, when she heard the kid's voice._

_"Heh, stop yelling like that, you vermin. You're the one who's in my way."_

_Anna paused. Why did that voice sound so familiar to her? She turned her head. In front of the man with the newspaper was a boy about 4'9" in height, he wore a school uniform that consist of a pair of black shorts, a tucked-in white dress shirt, a yellow jacket, a dark green tie and a pair of brown shoes. His hair was up in a Chinese style called a tongari and the color was none other than a dark purple, his eyes the same color as hers…amber._

_A vein popped in the man's forehead and he began to shout even louder. "VERMIN!" he shouted in disbelief, "You damn brat! I'm going to kill you!" he bent down and grabbed the boy by the arm. The boy looked up, his eyes a flame of gold that looked dangerous, like an animal. He grabbed the man by his shirt with his free arm and instantly struck his knee in the man's gut, the man spew out blood and fell the ground, crying out in pain._

_A dark shadow came over him, and the man looked up to see the boy standing over him with a large Chinese blade aimed right at his heart.__"Who the hell do you think you are, touching me?" he yelled at the man with disgust. "A vermin like you shouldn't even have the right to look at me, let alone touch me!" the man winced in surprise, suddenly scared for his life, "As I thought," the boy muttered under his breath in a low and menacing voice, raising his blade high into the air, "your kind is better off dead!"_

_Screams and gasps were heard from all around as the purple haired boy brought his blade down to end the man, but as he did he heard something cut through the air and he feel his blade being pulled back by something._

_He turned his head and saw a line of beads that wrapped around his blade, he followed the line of beads till he saw the hand that grasped it. A small hand and its owner –the boy narrowed his eyes- a female. The boy could not see the female's face, for her face was lowered, her bangs covering her eyes, and strands of golden locks covering the sides of her face. "Such an annoying brat," she spat in annoyance, "to think that think so mighty of yourself that you can't shut up…baka."_

_The boy clenched his teeth, his face becoming red with rage, he could put up with a man saying such things to him but a female! "You ugly wrench! You dare speak to me in such way?" he shouted._

_The air around the two grew thick rather quickly, "Ugly?" the girl's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, the word said in such a tone that made everyone who stood around back away slowly._

_The boy smirked in triumph, "What's with the atmosphere?" he asked mockingly, "I'm simply stating… the… truth." The girl raised her head, revealing a pair of long eyelashes, under them two golden orbs, her pale face emitted the kind of pure beauty that the boy had never once seen before. For some reason the boy felt heat rush to his cheeks, and for once he felt that it was not due to anger._

_The girl smirked, "Regretting your words, Tao Ren?" she asked slyly._

_ Ren's eyes narrowed themselves as he glared at the female, he yanked his blade out of the necklace's grasp, and kept it to his side, "How the hell do you know my name?"_

_The girl took her beads and wrapped them around her neck calmly, "How could I not? Tao Ren, Birthday: January 1__st__, Age 13, Capricorn, Blood Type: AB. And the Shaman who sent my fiancé to the hospital after your first encounter."_

_The Tao now understood. "The Asakura Family must be very good at picking wives if they got you for that idiot."_

_"I'll be sure to tell them that they have a Tao's approval." She vaguely joked._

_Ren straightened himself and loosened the grip on his __Kwan Dao, he gave the itako a quick up and scan. He quickly decided that she was beautiful. Not that he was interested. "Are you here for revenge?" he asked, waiting to be amused by the girl's answer._

_Anna gave a smug look and took a few steps forward to where she was just two feet away from him. The Tao tried hard to keep himself from blushing at the distance between them. Not that he had a reason to blush. "Normally, I would try to kill the idiots who insult me. But I have to go see Yoh take his next step towards becoming Shaman King."_

"_That idiot will never be Shaman King. He thinks that a stupid spirit is his friend and not a slave. A weakling such as that...you'd be better off with me. The REAL future Shaman King" Ren found himself protesting, the thought of Asakura Yoh having this girl as his fiancé was pissing him off for some reason, the blonde probably found the idiot just as annoying as he. _

_"Tempting," the itako responded casually, finding herself amused by the Tao's sudden offer, she _"_But my Yoh is better than an arrogant brute like you being Shaman King."_

_By the time her words had registered in his head, Anna had already taken a few steps away from him and had placed her itako beads around her neck. She wore a very dull look on her face, but her tone was entirely smug. _

_"D__on't be disappointed that you didn't manage to win me over, Tao Ren," she said, "a normal girl would have been head-over-heals in love with you by now, but that's simply because you're a silver-spoon-boy who has good looks because of he's well pampered by other people, not because you're an arrogant brute."_

_The Tao blinked, he didn't take his eyes off of her as she began to walk away, passing by the Tao as she did. She stopped for a moment in her tracks, "Oh," she spoke aloud, "I almost forgot." She gave her fingers a quick snap, the beads of her necklace began to glow a bright light blue, and Bason suddenly materialized in front of Ren, the large Chinese Warrior was shaking in fear. "I confiscated him while you were too busy flirting. You could say that I had half a mind to keep him and make him my slave. But I'll simply let Yoh handle you in the next round."_

_"Not if that Necromancer kills him."_

_Anna froze for a split second; Ren smirked, thinking that he finally got to her, that he found her weak point. Anna turned around and gave him a cocky grin._

_"If that happens, then you'll never know if you're stronger then him, will you? And then you'll never prove me wrong." Despite himself, Ren looked at her. She looked back at him, meeting his gaze for half a second, then giving her final smirk before turning around and leaving the Tao to be more puzzled than ever in his life._

_And more enrage than ever._

_"Damn woman," he hissed, clutching his Kwan Dao tightly. "Bason!" the spirit turned to look at his master._

_"Yes Bocchima?" the Chinese Warrior asked suddenly having a very bad feeling. His Master would usually yell his name when he was about to receive a punishment._

_"Where's Asakura Yoh's fight?"_

_Bason blinked. "The Oracle Bell said that his fight would be in Chokohama, why?"_

_Ren smirked as he turned to walk, "I'm going to prove that woman wrong."_

"..."

"BAHAHAHAHA!"

The Tao felt himself shrink as his friends laughed at him. He felt someone slam him on the back, he didn't have to look up to see who it was.

"YOU GOT REJECTED BY ANNA! HAHA!" Horo Horo laughed his butt off.

Ryu wrapped his arm around him, a tissue in hand, he blew his nose, "I understand how you feel, Ren!"

Chocolove just continued to laugh his butt off on the floor. Lyserg calmly sipped his tea, trying hard not to laugh at the thought of Ren courting Ms. Anna. He looked over at Jeanne, who was smiling through her tea cup.

Manta looked at Faust.

Faust looked at Manta.

Both chuckled as they finally realized why Ren interrupted the fight between Faust and Manta back then. Who would've guessed Anna would've been the reason though?

Rutherford looked at all the idiots and was beginning to grow impatient, she turned to Nianna who now held Hana instead of her; the copy was feeding the kid his bottle while Nagehiko simply watched, never taking his off of either one of them. The Patch girl lost her patience, "You're supposed to be Anna-sama's copy," she stated, "Usually around this time Anna-sama would summon her Shikigamis and break the table in half to get them to silence."

Nianna raised her head and looked at Rutherford, then looked at the idiots who disturbed the meeting. She reached into her pocket and pulled out ear plugs, handing a pair to Nagehiko, and another pair for herself. Rutherford raised a brow. Then without thinking it twice, the Anna copy yanked the bottle out of Hana's mouth and threw it behind her.

Hana blinked. Then his amber eyes grew large, tears slowly forming, he bit down on his lower lip as his mouth began to tremble, "...B..."

Rutherford raised her brows even higher.

"BW..." Hana shut his eyes, and Rutherford slammed her hands over her ears and threw herself under the table as Hana's trembling lips parted and an ear-piercing cry escaped the baby lips, one so high pitched that tea cups shattered, ears popped, the whole campus shook, a few light bulbs exploded and cabinets fell on several shaman. Needless to say the shamans lost consciousness for several minutes after having shelves and pieces of the ceiling crash down on their heads. Nianna chunked a pacifier into the Shaman prince's mouth, and waited for the others to awaken.

"This could take a while."

[Several minutes of regaining consciousness later...]

"What the hell was that!" Horo Horo shouted, getting up from his position on the ground, rubbing his bottom from the pain of falling on it.

"One guess," Chocolove replied wiping his nose with a tissue, due to him falling on it when Hana cried.

Sati awoke and rubbed her head where it ached, which could be practically anywhere, she looked up at the ceiling and noticed the deterioration and lacking of it. "Well, I'll have to deal with that later, won't I?"

"That kid really is Anna-san's child if he can make us unconscious so easily," Lyserg added, he and Marco both raising the Maiden to her sitting position.

Ohachiyo sat on the table cleaning out his ears with his pinky, "That's the Shaman Prince for you."

Nianna sighed and closed her eyes, she stood up, completely unharmed thanks to the ear plugs. "You guys are all idiots," she spoke as she tossed Hana to the person right in front of her. Ren caught the kid but looked at the Anna copy, asking as to why he had to hold the damn thing. "Watch him," the girl ordered as she turned around, heading for the door.

Ren blinked, "What?" he spat.

Nianna turned around and looked at him, "Can't your mind digest two simple words, or will they clutter the vacuum within your so called head?" she snapped.

Ren's face darkened, "You have the same tongue as that woman."

Nianna's face was impeccably blank as she turned her back on him, "My tongue is my own," she said as she opened the door and left, Nagehiko following her on her way out.

Avaf crossed his arms and shook his head, "They spoiled her too much at the Patch Village," he pointing out.

Rutherford and Ohachiyo shrugged.

Jackson turned to look at Sati, who sat calmly completely unharmed, "My lady?"

Sati nodded and placed her hands together, her eyes looking around the room, everyone now quiet and settled down. "So. Shall we continue?"

* * *

_**Chapter 19: Hoshi No Kissu V**  
_

Aho…

An annoying and disturbing aho…

That's what was passing through the Shaman Queen's head as she stared at the person she was accusing.

Tao Ju….

"You really don't think do you?" The blonde asked, crossing her arms out in front of her, "Nothing good comes out of me marrying your brother, if he's not the Shaman King."

The small green haired girl smirked, "My brother is the future Shaman King," she proclaimed, "and you will be his wife whether you like it or not."

The Jiang Shi formed a circle around the blonde, each one getting ready to jump Annaka, the Shaman Queen looked around and smirked, "You don't mind if I break your little toys do you?" she asked in a superior tone.

The Daoshi laughed, "How can you? Your little medium is hiding behind a tree," she pointed out looking at a quivering Ultimo.

Annaka narrowed her eyes, a blank, animal glare fixed like steel in them as she gave the Chinese girl a long smirk.

Ju clenched her teeth together and threw from her hand paper talismans onto the forehead of each Jiang Shi that surrounded Annaka, "Combat Talisman! Jiang Shi capture that girl!"

The zombies raced forward with speed but as they did a sudden flash of flame ignited, engulfing the body of each Jiang Shi. The female Tao stared at the flames that began to eat her toys, she took a few steps back as Annaka appeared out of the circle of flames, ignoring the fresh pile of smoldering ashes that she stepped over, the flames disappeared, and smoke took its place behind the blonde. "How naïve you are, Tao," Annaka said coolly, "Tell your brother" She added turning her back on the female Tao, "that I'm not interested."

"Hold on a minute," the child ordered.

Annaka stopped when three shuriken daggers flew past her, slicing through the tree in front of her in smooth lines, the tree slid to the ground; Annaka turned to her side. Ju had her small hands into two tight fists, her green eyes were cold, and much to the blonde's surprise, Ju's tongari was larger and spikier than before. "How the hell did you do that?" she hissed, referring to the ashes of what used to be living corpses, "The only one who can burn my Jiang Shi without hardship is Hao-sama."

Annaka raised a brow, "Do you always call your brother's enemy by adding '–sama' to the end of their name? Clearly you are a child…perhaps that's why Asakura Hao doesn't find you enough of a woman for him…"

"Zhu zui!" Tao Ju ordered in annoyance, narrowing her eyes more than before, "I've had enough of your tongue," from her golden robes she pulled out rectangular sheets of paper and without hesitation she bit her thumb.

Annaka winced in disgust as blood dripped from the young girl's finger; the thumb pressed itself against the paper and began to write in a rapid speed, "I have a belief that peasants should know their place. Kyo! Shu!" she slammed the papers on to the Jiang Shi's foreheads, "don't hesitate till she's unconscious!"

Both Kyo and Shu raced toward Annaka and began swinging their hands and feet simultaneously at her.

Annaka lowered her body to the ground as Kyo's foot was coming down to slam against her back, but she managed to roll away from their feet. As she got up Shu began to kick in circles, Annaka's feet quickly moved her body backwards avoiding every kick that the Jang Shi flung at her. Shu threw one last kick toward her gut, but the blonde dodged it by jumping backward, then swinging her body up to the branch of a tree. Just as she regained his footing, Kyo was in front of her again, swinging his fists madly. The zombie's fists met with Annaka's arms which were crossed in front of her body for defense, the blonde Jiang Shi took a swing at her stomach but as he did Annaka raised her foot up to his took a few steps back and brought her hands together to where they made a diamond and pushed her hands forward, a gush of air zooming out of her hands and sending the blonde zombie off the tree and slamming him straight to the ground.

Ju clenched her teeth and bit the nail of her uninjured thumb, she was very pissed, the blonde was good, she was not using an oversoul yet she was crushing and beating her two best Jiang Shi in a matter of minutes. There had to be something she could do to capture her, some weakness of hers…the Daoshi saw something red move and turned her head, she smirked as she saw Ultimo continuing to hide behind the tree, shaking at seeing his master in such a dangerous situation.

Annaka came down from the tree and stared at Kyo, he was no longer moving and stayed in the ditch that had formed from his fall. _'That's one down,' _she noticed, '_now where's-'_

"Heika-sama!"

Annaka swung her head to the tree where she had left Ultimo, Shu had him by his arms in one hand and his other hand had the redhead by his long unruly hair. Annaka's eyes narrowed and was about to run until she felt something. A piercing pain below her chest, the Shaman Queen looked down and saw a long blade coming out from inside her.

Red liquid began dropping from her wound and started a puddle on the ground below her; she heard a chuckle from behind her and turned her head.

There stood Tao Ju with a satisfied grin on her scheming face, her hand holding the long blade that pierced through the blonde's body, "Like it?" she asked slyly, "I borrowed it from Nii-sama, he has a million of them in his room, he wouldn't mind if I took one to capture his future wife."

Annaka faced forward, all of Ju's Jiang Shi were starting to circle the area around them making a diameter of at least 30 feet in length, the Shaman Queen lowered her head, a playful smirk spreading on her light lips, blood dripping from them as she did, "Perhaps…" she admitted, "Too bad I'm not his future wife!"

She grabbed a hold of the kwan by the blade and yanked it out of Ju's grasp and out of her own body. She did a backwards flip until she had Shu in sight, then she jumped into the air and slammed the blade down on Shu's arm, it fell of the zombie's body and onto the ground.

Shu let go of Ultimo and grasped the spot where his arm seemed to be missing, he looked up and saw the red headed boy run towards the blonde.

Ultimo raced over to Annaka and jumped into her arms, then he noticed the blood that fell from his master, _'Heika-sama your hurt!' _Annaka nodded in acknowledgment, then she looked around her, the Tao's Jiang Shi would not let her out of the circle so easily, if she made a move to get out they could simply grab her and tie her down.

Tao Ju took two steps forward and placed her fan to her mouth, "Hmm, it seems you can't go anywhere with that injury, doesn't it?"

The Tao was right, Annaka needed to heal her injury if she wanted to get out without using an oversoul, but if she used the _Senji Ryakketsu's _forbidden technique for reviving and healing then she'd have no choice but to kill Tao Ju for seeing a hidden power of the Great Spirit. She could oversoul but she is not allowed to oversoul with the Great Spirit in the presence of anyone, that left Ultimo…

"Looks like the only thing left to do is wait for you to surrender, or wait till your loss of blood causes you to lose consciousness," The Tao spoke up, "No matter, I have all day."

**...**

Tamao sat in fetal position on the ground gasping for air, her skin was now wet with sweat, her hair damp. The pain was all gone but she felt herself weak, as if she could no longer move.

_'Like hell that's going to happen.' _

In her anger she pushed herself up, her body swaying slightly before she could stand straight. As she took in a few breaths she looked around her, her eyes narrowed at her surroundings.

"Dammit," she cursed, "I told you guys to leave me the hell alone!"

She was answered by the sounds of many shrieks, her eyes narrowed themselves at all the Onis that surrounded her, each one in fetal before her now standing figure.

"Of course this would happen," she cursed herself, "there is just too much sin in one place for me to hold in for years." She looked at the Onis wither angered eyes, the Onis were already devouring themselves, each one fighting for the taste of their fellow demon, she rolled her eyes. "You guys do not deserve to serve me."

She began to walk away when the remaining Oni grabbed her by the arm, she looked back at it and lifted her hand, her hand smacked the large demon to the ground. She looked at it in disgust, "Repulsive creature. I have nothing to do with you." She turned once more and heard the Oni as it began to sniff the air of its new location she stopped her movement as her stomach ached. _'_

_That's right…' _she told herself as she placed her hand on her stomach. She turned to the giant and ugly beast and crossed her arms, "Perhaps…you _could _be of _some_ damn use…" she smirked maliciously, "You could help me let out some anger…"

"In what ways can that devilish thing help you?" a voice asked from behind her.

Tamao turned her head, her long pink hair swaying with the movement of her head, behind her stood Annai resting her body against a tree, her arms crossed and her itako beads in hand.

Tamao narrowed her eyes at the girl and turned her back on her.

"Leave me alone," she hissed violently. The Oni lifted himself off the ground and began to creep towards Annai, it stopped in front of her, leaning his face an inch away from hers and roaring in her face.

The Asakura narrowed her white eyes at the demon and winced away from her in fear. Annai grabbed the beads around her neck and the Oni ran past her to hide in the woods. Annai stayed where she stood, merely wiping the Oni spit off her face, "Your anger cannot always be relieved by simply letting these things run free, I've let them do as they pleased before, but they will end up killing someone."

"Good. Perhaps they'll kill those who are a nuisance to me."

The female Asakura sighed, once more placing her beads around her neck, "Stubborn as always, The pink haired shaman ignored her, "I wonder if that's why my cousin prefers not to deal with your temper…but then again…he's a hot head himself."

The pink haired girl did not turn around, instead she placed her hand against a tree to hold herself up right, she was breathing so deeply that Annai sensed that she would at any moment just land flat on her face, right on the boulder in front of her. She was partly correct, Tamao fell against the boulder on her knees, her breathing increased.

"How pathetic," Annai spoke up dully.

Tamao lowered her head and bit her lip so hard that she tasted blood on her tongue, "Don't insult me just because you have Hao's blood running through your veins. For me there is no such thing as guilt. I could go to the point of killing you and not care." Her tone was cold, her face had gone devil-like and deadly, her bangs were to the point of covering her eyes…her face was that of a demon.

"You won't feel bad for killing someone who cannot see?"

"Don't pity yourself so much," she spat in mock concerned, "You, too, are also a threat to what I wish to accomplish."

Annai shrugged, a sly smirk appearing on her blank face, "As if I care to know what goes on in your head, I'm neutral to what happens, I let what is going to happen happen." She paused, "That's why I don't bother to find out your true identity…and why I did not stop your Oni this time around."

Tamao opened her mouth to speak but she stopped in her words as she felt something, it was strange, a very quire but powerful force, it was furyoku for sure.

An incredible amount of it…an amount belonging to the Great Spirit only, "The blonde," Tamao hissed, she swirled her head to look at the female Asakura.

Annai looked up at the sky, her gaze staring somewhere else, somewhere much more far from where she stood. Her face was blank, no expression seen, just her white eyes seeing something that those with real vision could not. Her lips parted, her voice coming out like the sound of the wind passing through a wind chime, a total contrast to her personality, "She's real interesting," she noted aloud, "that Annaka-san…"

Tamao did not answer, she looked down and forced her arms to pull her body upwards, she straightened herself, ignoring the pain her body felt. She turned to face the Asakura her pink eyes cold with warning, "She's no better than a human," she spoke up, contradicting the itako's words, "Her attitude is the same as one. But then again…" she smiled wanly. "all shamans are very much human themselves they are simply just armed with some superpowers, that's all."

Annai stayed silent, she stared up at the sky, listening to the shaman's words but not responding to them.

"Though of course," Tamao mused aloud, slowly reaching into her kimono, her back turned to the Asakura. "That doesn't mean I have to like either one as a whole." She yanked her hand out of her kimono, a paper seal doll glowed brightly in her hand.

A gush of wind cut through the air, Annai felt her hair blow out of her face and felt her body being pushed back. The itako opened her mind wider, casting out her senses, she heard a whisper of spirits running from something, something dangerous. That's when she felt it, the itako felt the explosion in her head before the blast wave hit her, she sensed trees that flew past her, crashing against the ground behind her.

Tamao turned in one swift move, a giant kami-classed Dai Tengu standing tall behind her; the gigantic tengu was dressed as an ascetic monk with angelic wings and wielded a large golden katana. Tamao raised a brow casually, her face entirely smug, "You act as if I am dangerous Annai," she said twirling her own katana in her hands in an astonishing show of agility, a smile playing on her face, "Or could there be another reason for why you summoned both Zenki and Kouki?"

Annai stood only several feet away, in front of her were both Zenki and Kouki, knocking down the trees that came close, the itako's grip tightened around her beads, her face turned cold.

Tamao laughed bitterly, "You're pretty good for someone who can't see," she mused, "But you, like every other shaman…has their limit," she slowly lifted her hand, "and I'm going find out what that is…_**Jigoku no tengu no suraisu!**_"

the Dai Tengu pounced off the ground and came crashing down with his blade, aiming to slice through Kouki.

Kouki raised his arm to block the attack but instead he grabbed the staff with his left hand, both spirits placed both hands on the katana pushing against one another. As that occurred, Zenki left the job of shielding his master, and threw a kick toward the Tengu's legs, the Tengu jumped back, swinging a leg upward that slammed right into Kouki's face, causing him to let go of the katana.

Annai did nothing for the moment, the itako simply grabbed a hold of the beads around her neck and brought them to her waist, Zenki and Kouki reappeared in front of her defensively. Tamao blankly stared at the female Asakura and did the same with her Tengu. Both girls were prepared for whatever.

"You won't get rid of your anger by simply taking it out on me," Annai added, her stoned face not faltering to the slightess, she was completely calm, no fear shown in her stance or on her face. Unlike most people, the female Asakura did not know what fear was, it was something needed to be erased from her list of emotions to be what she was…an itako.

But then again, Tamao also did not know fear, she was fear itself. She took a few steps back and sat on top of the boulder, she rested her chin in the palm of her hand and began to wait with an annoyed look on her face, "Although what you say might be true, I find myself extremely bored."

There was a long silence while the 15 year old girl pondered on what to say to her three year older ally, it was hard to talk to Tamao, because she was so much like a rose. All others said she was extremely beautiful but everyone knew that her thorns kept everyone out. She didn't like to talk to anyone other than Hao when it comes to others she does nothing but insult and criticize. That girl…she hates everybody. The only exception is Hao, but that two seemed like a love-hate relationship.

The brunette gave a dull sigh.

"It can't be helped…" she emotionlessly monotoned, she brought her beads to her chest, and closed her eyes, then in the blink of an eye they opened and glowed, her short chocolate hair raised itself, and something glowed from her, "Zenki, Kouki, _**GoumaChoubuku**_," the spirits took a stance, "**Akuma no shōmetsu**!"

Something flashed through Tamao's eyes as she jerked up and stood, both shikigami came fast grabbing their weapons tightly in their grasp, they began to jump circles around the tengu and each one slammed their weapon down on it when gravity would pull them down from their flight.

The pink haired girl gave a sly smile, "this…" she said, "is much more fun. Dai Tengu… _**Tamashī no kyūin**_!"

The tengu clutched his katana, and the wind blew fiercely through the air and into the katana as it started to twirl, its speed increased and the itako heard as lightning cackled through the sky.

The wind began pulling everything toward the blade, and what ever got dragged got sliced by the katana.

Annai felt herself also being sucked in, the wind's current was strong, it was that of a tornado or worse. Zenki and Kouki were not so easily pulled in, they held on tight by nothing them holding them to the ground other than their weight.

Annai's hands moved quick, each movement ordering the shikigamis to strike in a different matter, but the final one sent the demons flying up and letting the wind pull them close to the tengu, the Dai Tengu stopped twirling his katana and also jumped.

Each guardian spirit was prepared to collide, only seconds left till their impact, but just as they came close…

A sudden flash of flame ignited in form of a line of fire, it came into contact with their bodies, engulfing them into a fiery inferno that was their bare skin.

Each spirit struggled to get out but faster than anyone could blink, the fire changed its shape into a five pointed star that tightened itself around them, crushing their bodies so tight that it became distortional, the star went tighter and tighter till- **_BAMMM_**!

All three spirits turned into dust that flew out into an explosion, Annai and Tamao were sent flying in opposite directions, but both crashed against something hard.

Tamao's eyes snapped open, her back ached from the impact, yet she managed to rise, she blinked several times when all she could see was red, then it hit her, the shaman felt a shiver run down her spine as she raised her head. "Hao…" she muttered softly

There he sat calmly on the shoulder of the Spirit of Fire, his legs crossed, his chin resting on the palm of his hand, brown curiously staring down at her, long trestles of chocolate blowing in the wind, he raised a brow at her and Tamao felt herself blush. The Asakura sighed and looked at his surroundings, there were hundreds of craters in the ground each about two feet apart from each other, trees were now nothing but stumps, and the grass was now a circle of ashes, rocks, and dirt with a diameter of about thirty-eight feet. A strange sound emitted from Hao's lips, Tamao blinked in confusion when she realized that Hao was laughing.

The pink haired shaman looked over at the Spirit of Fire's right hand, there sat Annai rubbing her temples, Hao had manage to make his guardian ghost catch both of them after the explosion.

At the sound of Hao's laughter Annai's brows shot up, but lowered themselves after her cousin's laughter calmed to a chuckle.

The laughter stopped, and for a long moment there was silence, Hao's eyes held at that moment an alarming spike of displeasure, but the pink haired shaman somehow knew that it was not because they had just demolished about sixty squared feet of forest.

"No it's not," he spoke up, agreeing with the conclusion inside the pink haired's head. His head turned to Annai who sat in fetal position a bit too comfortable on the Spirit of Fire's palm,

"Where's Emmetto?" he asked in a low tone.

Annai closed her eyes, her beads glowing as she sensed for a furyoku level that was the exact same as their tired blonde friend. Her eyes snapped opened and she slowly raised her head, "Waterfall," was all she said.

His head turned once more, this time towards Tamao, the shaman noticed that his orbs were emitting a flame within them as the Spirit of Fire lowered its left hand to place Tamao on the ground, she looked up at Hao who looked back down at her, "Go get Emmetto," he ordered, Tamao's face did not wither, her usual dull and stern expression came across her face, and stayed there. She lowered her head, her long strands of pink bristle hid her eyes, and with a shift turn of her heels she walked. She stopped when she heard Hao call her name, she turned to look at him, the flames within his eyes becoming larger and eerie smile creeping up his face as he said his next words in a low whisper, "be sure to get your stuff. We are going to go hunting…for Taos"

A smirk crept up the pink haired shaman's face as she dug into her kimoto, she pulled out a large golden katana and extended it in front of her, holding it by its ends using only two fingers, "Hunting," she repeated in a dark tone, staring at her bright eyes in the reflection of the blade, "sounds…to my liking."

**...**

Annaka glimpsed something large and fast off to her left, she believed it to be the Jiang Shi coming after her, but they were just closing off the circle that surrounded her. Ultimo reached out for his master's arm. Annaka glanced back at him, eyes narrowed. That's when the Jiang Shi striked.

Bodies slammed out of the narrow spaces between each other, making their way with rapid speed over to the two in the center. Annaka was ready; she spun with the impact that occurred when one zombie collided against her, she turned the force of its weapon against it by grabbing a thick arm and throwing the doll headfirst into the ground. From the impact of another Jiang Shi, Ultimo went down, but only for a moment. He rolled, barely missing the foot of a zombie clomping down toward his chest, and in a move too fast for anyone to see, found his feet and his fists, striking out with two quick punches that sent the Jiang Shi in front of him straight into the ground.

'_Well he is partly metal,' _Annaka remembered, surprised at seeing that the mechanic human her sister made for her was able to defend itself rather well. She concentrated on the Jiang Shi, noticing that all of them had broad chests, and arms so thick that possibly couldn't bend properly; she backed away, the Jiang Shi followed. They looked bored and unconcerned for their safety. Annaka did not feel sorry for them. The ten Jiang Shi that surrounded her all looked back at the female Tao, who stood close to the group that had surrounded Ultimo. Her two favorite toys looked at her, both waiting for her to give an order.

She looked to Kyo and Shu, then to the group of buff dolls, and nodded.

The Dolls shared a look and lunged.

Annaka sprang back on light feet, feeling the pain of her wound on her chest as she did, bouncing on her toes as she slipped and gracefully moved just out of the reach of their hands. All that boredom disappeared; several Jiang Shi hesitated, startled. That's when both Ultimo and Annaka heard a click. They jerked their heads, and in both Kyo and Shu's hands they glimpsed dark metal. Guns.

Annaka's eyes widened, "That is definitely not Chinese," she heard Ultimo whisper.

Tao Ju's face smiled bitterly, "It's something we took from some Englishmen that invaded our home several days ago, my Nii-sama is quite fond of weapons." She spoke proudly, "Though inside is not what you'd expect. It's Chinese poison, my family's specialty, one shot into your body will cause you to become unconscious long enough for my lovely toys to take you back to my home."

Annaka stared at the Tao, pure disbelief passing over her face, an arm curled around her neck, hauling her backwards, off her feet and keeping her body in the air, facing the gun. To Ultimo they did the same. Blood ran down the blonde's chest, more than before, the pain grew to be excruciating and unbearable in the position she was held.

Tao Ju calmly watched her as she squirmed. She turned to her two mediums, "On my count," she ordered.

"One." Annaka paused as she heard something behind her. Footsteps. Loud ones.

"Two." Something glowed from behind Ju, and the blonde heard something cutting through the air, something was coming fast, but the Chinese girl did not notice it.

"Three." Kyo and Shu raised their guns, but just as they were about to pull the trigger, a line of light slashed through the guns, splitting them into several pieces. The Jiang Shi turned but as they did something pierced through them again, and again, and again.

Annaka squinted to see a gem tied to a string going in and out of the zombies' bodies too quick for them to see anything of it. The string continued to move till it was full wrapped around the bodies, then something tugged at it hard, and the Jiang Shi were sliced, their pieces falling to the ground.

The remaining Jiang Shi bounced, running toward the wire and their sliced up friends, but then something roared.

Something large shook the earth as it bounced on the ground over Annaka's head, the blonde blinked her eyes, large was an understatement. The being was huge, as in half-the-size-of-a-Canadian-oak huge. It stood on four large paws, claws digging into soil beneath it. Locks of grey unruly fur sticking out in every direction it could come out of. It glowed of furyoku and inside it, also producing the large transparent oversoul, was a certain blonde male standing on all fours. His hair matching the pattern of his guardian spirit, his grey eyes killer, animal.

"Emmetto…" Annaka muttered in disbelief.

The young boy turned to look back, his oversoul with Jeikubu doing the same. He gazed at Annaka and blinked, his eyes and face turning into that lazy and tired gaze she had met him with. "Morning Annaka-Nee-chan," he said slowly and polite, his usual lazy grin plastered on his face, "pretty energetic morning, huh?"

Something popped in the Tao's temple, "That's unfair," she mumbled, "bringing in help is really unfair…"

"Really?" a voice asked out of nowhere, "Is the unfair one not you…Tao Ju?"

The woods suddenly became unbearably hot, rings of orange, red, and yellow covered the area, turning the place into a earthly inferno. Shrieks were heard from the Jiang Shi as their pieces began to fall. Skin began to peel, thread disappeared, body parts started to come apart, all adding up to the mound of newly burnt ashes on the ground.

Tao Ju's emerald orbs widened, as she saw something large begin to appear with in the fire, she knew that figure and suddenly felt fear overcome her. She took a step back, but as she did she heard something cut through the air and she felt something circle her body and pull it. She looked down in surprise, a long metal wire was wrapped around her, at the end of the wire was some sort of crystal. On the crystal was a pink creature that looked at her with huge eyes. "If you run away you won't get to meet Hao-sama," a male voice said behind her. She turned around and saw a green haired person looking at her with dull eyes, his expression changed when his eyes narrowed and a sly smirk appeared, "And I'm pretty sure Hao-sama wishes to personally speak with you…" he turned his head, "right Hao-sama?"

Annaka opened her eyes, but had to reclose them do to all the smoke that would enter through her eyes, she could only squint enough to see something large standing in front of her protectively. She saw something large and red come her way and suddenly felt her body tighten under the S.O.F's grip. When the beast let go, both Annaka and Ultimo found themselves on the Spirit Of Fire's left palm, right beside of Hao.

Hao looked took one look at Annaka and suddenly felt enraged at seeing her injury. He narrowed his eyes and lowered his head to look down at the female Tao. "This is _your_ doing Tao Ju?" he asked, already knowing the answer. Tao Ju just pouted her lips and turned her head in the direction where Hao was not. Hao raised a brow, "That's strange," he drawled. "You are unusually mute today. Is there a reason?"

The Tao kept her silence. But the thoughts that were roaming into Hao's head made him grow impatient. He could see everything that the girl did, including the part of where Annaka was struck by a Kwan Dao, and Hao did not like it one bit.

"I should just engulf you in flames and hand you over to your brother in a vase. It'll save him a lot of trouble from having to cremate your dead body." The girl shot her head to stare at him with wide eyes.

_'You wouldn't.'_

Hao 's eyes looked around at the girl's former toys, then he looked back at the Tao a sick smile playing on his lips, "Wouldn't I?" he asked beginning to lift his hand, he stopped when he felt the warmth of another on his, he looked at the hand and saw the stains of blood, he turned back to look at Annaka, whose eyes were blasting red daggers right into his own chocolate orbs.

"Selfish brat," she spat in anger.

Ah, how amusing this girl was. Hao lowered his hand, "Is it selfish of me to kill someone who harmed you?" he asked in an innocent voice.

Annaka let go of his hand and crossed her arms, despite the pain she was in, "It is if I did not say you could kill her."

"Who's being selfish now?"

"Shut up."

"Boy, you're stubborn," he commented, not losing his cheerfulness. "If pig-headedness would hurt, you'd be in pain all day long." **[A/N: This line belongs to syaoran no hime, not me. I just reallyyy love this line & use it to insult guys who won't leave me alone but yes it belongs to syaoran no hime. That is all.]**

"I did not ask for your comment on my personality, I'm ordering you to let the girl go and-" she was interrupted when she felt Hao place his finger on her lip, she felt her face become warmer, and saw a grin replace the Asakura's usual smirk.

"How you can think of others when you're possibly about to die, I do not know," he spoke, Annaka narrowed her eyes as if telling him to back off, he chuckled, "Fine. Fine. The Tao will live."

Ju let out a huge sigh of relief and felt her knees grow weak. She thought she was about to die...

Hao stood and looked at the Tao once more, he smiled, "It would've been a shame to turn you to ashes anyway, Tao Ju," he spoke, "I would like to see how you turn out in a few years."

Ju blushed.

Annaka whacked Hao on the head with her bloody hand, "Trying to court a girl after threatening to kill her...what kind of man are you?" she shouted at him. Ultimo shivered at the sudden shouts of his Master.

Hao laughed, "Jealous, Ms. Annaka?" he asked, clearly entertained by the thought. Annaka glared at him, and he continued to laugh, "I'll take that as a yes, but be reassured Ms. Annaka," he continued, grabbing both of her bloody hands in his, both of them being face to face- his laughing eyes on her seething and embarrassed ones, "I would not consider myself a man if I would not be lusting after someone as pretty as you." He let go of her and left her speechless.

The Asakura triumphantly turned and looked to his followers. "Lysander, you and Wilhemina will take Tao Ju back to her brother." Lysander turned to Wilhelmina, who was lying on a tree branch, her back resting against the trunk of the tree. Sora, her spirit, stood on the branch beside her. Hao turned to Tamao, who rested her back against a tree behind Emmetto's large oversoul, "Tamao, I place you in charge of getting rid of the Jiang Shi's souls. I'm sure you need to let out a bit of steam," he added knowingly.

Tamao's eyes landed on Annaka, they narrowed themselves and then gazed at Hao, "Like hell I do," she responded, causing Hao to smile in amusement.

The Asakura then spoke to the remainder of his followers, "The rest can head back to our place, I'll be going as well. But please don't wait on me," he added his eyes flicking over to Annaka, then back to his followers, "I'll be taking my time getting there."

With that the Spirit of Fire turned and began taking it's giant steps towards Hao's place. The Shaman Queen finally realized how Hao was planning on taking his time, instead of materializing he was going to make his spirit walk. All so he could be a while longer with her.

Her eyes crinkled in anger. "Pervert."

Hao chuckled. He looked over at Annaka, sweat glistened over her skin, making her peachy skin seem a deep gold that was almost as rich a color as her long blonde hair. A burst of wind cut through the air, making her cloak tighten against her body. Hao watched a strand of her hair touch the corner of her mouth, then he look up at her eyes, those pair of glistening rubies matched the blood that was dripping from the side of her mouth. And then those eyes stared coldly into his, "Could you stop looking at me?" she asked, though the way she said it made Hao chuckle, her tone of voice suggested it was an order, not a request.

"I _am_ a man," he replied in amusement, "but please don't mistake concern for attraction, Ms. Annaka."

"Oh, never." She mocked, her gaze flickering to the ground under them as the Spirit of Fire stomped its way through the forest, she narrowed her eyes, "You're too easy to read."

"Unlike you." Hao watched her turn slowly, the air around them was becoming thick as tar, her expression turned from amusement to…sadness?

No. Not sadness…pain. He looked at her wound, she was bleeding more than usual, her hand was pressed hard against it trying to keep the blood from gushing out. She bit her lip and Hao swore he heard her mutter some indecent words under her breath.

He sighed and sat beside her, his legs in fetal position; Ultimo watched as the Asakura pat his lap at her. "Lie down," he ordered.

She snapped her head at him, "What?"

"Lie down," he repeated, "you need to rest." She opened her mouth to protest, but he placed a finger against her lips, she narrowed her eyes in annoyance and looked him in the eyes, the warm brown eyes were gone and were not stone cold, "Don't protest. I always win."

"There's a first time for everything."

He chuckled, "If you are worried I will do something to you, you have my word that I won't."

"Forgive me if I'm not reassured," Annaka drawled, her body weakening in its ability to hold itself up. Hao took the opportunity offered and caught her as she fell, her head fell on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her up.

She raised her head to look at him, her eyes coldly glaring at where his hand was positioned, her right brow raising itself as she stared it down, a fire forming in those blood red eyes, it didn't take Hao's reishi to figure out what was going through the blonde's head at that moment…she was annoyed. Hao held back a smirk, "Sorry."

"Liar."

He couldn't hold the smirk back this time, "Yes," he agreed, than his eyes fell on his lap, "Rest," he ordered.

Her eyes still showed signs of anger and protest, Hao sighed, she was stubborn but strong. He had no choice. The brunette lifted his right hand and waved it in front of her face, "_**Nemasu**__,"_ he whispered gently, a light glow escaping from the palm of his hand and warmed the surface of the Shaman Queen's face. Her eyes became drowsy and suddenly her body felt weak, she felt the wind blow as she fell and landed on something soft…soft and warm. She felt a strong but gentle hand twirl itself in her hair, and felt a thumb caress her temple, her eyes became heavier and the fact that Hao's body temperature was that of a mother's hug did not help her one bit.

She slowly drifted to sleep and let herself fall into her sub-consciousness the last thing she saw was a pair of warm chocolate eyes gazing at her adoringly, then she saw black.

**...**

In the moments before Tao Rem opened his eyes to the fire burning him alive, he found himself lost within a dream of thunder and water, where bones crunched underfoot and a chain pressed hard around his ankle, binding him tight within the center of a raggedy sand circle. A deep dream, an old dream, the kind he rarely had anymore, and it was only the scent of roasting meats that pulled him from the mystery of shadows inside his mind.

Pulled him free and floating, consciousness returning with a hard peeling light that became, after a moment's confusion, an inferno, a sheet of pure heat washing over his naked body.

Fire. He was on fire.

Rem screamed. He screamed until his eyes bulged, but he made no sound. His throat was hostage. And like his voice, his body refused him. He could not move. Paralyzed, or maybe he was already dead and this was hell: forced to watch himself burn to ash, his life given up like one of his sister's paper doll to a matchstick, some human sacrifice to the red-hot beast licking his eyes, melting his mouth, pushing deep inside his ears to roar like thunder; a sound to ride his terror upon as he silently screamed, screamed and screamed until something broke inside his head and shattered.

He felt hands on his body. Real hands, the kind he had not felt in years. Small and female, delicate. Moving against his chest, sinking into a bright silver light. He felt no pain, but he sensed those fingersslide into his body past bone to wrap tight around his hammering heart, and he thought he was going to die. But as the hand squeezed inside his chest, fingers forgiving, another voice intruded on Rem's mind, a voice loud and clear and unfamiliar, and he heard a woman telling him to wake up.

And just like that, the fire boomed, puffed, the pressure eased. The world collapsed into darkness.

He opened his eyes. The world came into softly lit focus: a blue sky, tall trees and leafy bushes. Nature at its best. Clean and perfect and not on fire.

_'Not on fire.'_

He sucked in his breath and closed his eyes. So. Just a dream, then. A damn dream.

He was naked, wet even, but his skin was smooth and he felt no pain. He was whole. Intact. He looked where he was and realized he was in front of a large body of water that would explain why he was wet. He now remembered why he was out. He was stressed and needed a bath to calm himself, but instead the cool waters reminded him of the lake back home and he had started to remember everything. His mother, his damned father, and he began to remember all those stupid rumors and he remembered seeing his mother, and all that blood as she killed herself. The image made him cringe and caused him a massive headache. So massive it had made him unconscious.

He must have fallen unconscious into the water and he remembered his last thoughts before seeing nothing but black.

Asakura Hao.

The man's words haunted him, his image haunted him even in his unconscious dreams. Rem sat up. Cold metal spilled from the hollow of his throat; his body gulped down long cold breaths that did nothing to slow his heart. He felt woozy, nauseated. Tried to imagine the fire as a dream and could not. The heat was still too real.

But if he had fallen into the water, why didn't he drown?

Sweat rolled down his body. What if he did drown and someone had pulled him out and revived him? The sound of the woman's voice in his dreams entered into his head, he could remember nothing but her voice and the smell of metal, he could remember the feeling of her hands and of something soft and silver...maybe hair. He remembered that when reviving someone, they go through a series of different feelings, sometimes they can see what occurs around them while they are being revived. Perhaps the fire he felt was not because of Asakura but because of whoever was healing him.

Then again Asakura was the only person Rem knew who could have anything to do with fire. Anything. Even making his flames appear in dreams.

"To hell with this." Rem murmured, sinking deeper into himself, rubbing his mind against memory, all that remained of flesh and blood and dream.

He stood up, covered himself with a robe and began walking away from the water, vowing to just take a bath the old fashion way. He stopped at his horse, which was tied to a tree several yards away, he glanced over his shoulder, feeling something watching him.

He was not alone. A bird cawed, swooping down low, skimming the top of his head with a wing. Rem caught the flash of a emerald eye, winking light like a tiny sun, and then it blinked and disappeared into the hot night; a ghost, a shadow flying.

Gritting his teeth, he took his kwan dao from the pouch that hung over his horse, he jump on his stallion and cut the rope that binded his horse to the tree, then began chasing after the bird. No time to waste—none at all—not with with that feeling he had that he had been watched, and a trail fading fast. The bird landed on a huge oak tree about as tall as the Tao mansion, it took Rem a while to realize the bird was rather big as well, possibly as tall as him, maybe bigger. Two figures came off the bird and his int the shadow of the tree's branches, a voice came from one of them. Female, "Well, I can't say its very pleasant to see you Tao Rem. Your a spitting image of your repulsive father."

Bad. No way that any of the shamans on this island could know how his father looked liked. Not unless they had once worked for the Tao family, but Rem knew that all the servants were killed by the Ming princess, all except Xialong. Meaning if anyone knew his father...

"Shit," Rem hissed. Something sharp jabbed his ribs.

"Well, is that what my presence makes you do, Tao Rem? Shit?" The female voice asked. rather amused. "Not in public I hope. You know how much more your family reputation will be ruined."

Rem didn't respond, a fan appeared right beside his neck, he felt the female's breath at his ear as she whispered, "You're lucky Hao-sama wants you alive. I don't see why. Knowing your blood you might rape his new mistress, you're interested in her are you not? The blonde with crimson eyes?" the female shifted her weight and flicked her wrist; the fan disappeared into the woman's long wine colored sleeves. Rem turned around and jumped away from her, aiming his Kwan Dao in her direction, his amber eyes narrowing as he got a look at her.

He had to admit the girl was rather attractive. She was tall and pale, with extremely large breast that contrasted with her small waist, a perfect line of cleavage was visibly due to the low cut cheongsam she wore. Her hair was the color of wine curled in several locks down to her waist, and her green eyes held that of hatred as Rem examined her, "Being rather smitten with me on a first impression basis. That man was defiantly your father."

"I never thought you'd be working for Asakura Hao," Rem spoke up, ignoring the woman's insults, "It would explain why he knows so much about me. And here I thought the man was some sort of mind reader."

"Don't underestimate Hao-sama. You'll find he has his ways of getting things done." she pointed upward to the tree, Rem looked up and saw a boy with green hair sit on a branch above him, his legs dangling. The boy's eyes wandered down, Rem followed them and saw his sister somehow in mid-air, her body looking as if it were tied up. Rem squinted to see better and noticed that there was a string tied around her arms and waist, the green haired boy was the source of the string.

"Why the hell do you have Ju?" he hissed, anger running through him, spreading like a wild fire.

The red head smirked, obviously amused, "She was trying to kidnap Hao-sama's new mistress. Stupid I should say. It's not that easy to steal from Hao-sama." she signaled for the boy to let Ju down. He did as he was told and the wire unwrapped itself from the female Tao's body, causing her to fall from her place in the air.

Rem caught her as she came down, the Ming princess rolled her eyes in annoyance of such action as Ju had displayed before, "What a stupid girl. How so very stupid. I would have expected better from the daughter of that man."

"And I would have expected my father to be stronger than to fall for some formless, faceless, opportunistic bitch, " Rem said grimly.

Above, the green haired boy wanted to tell Rem to rein in the anger. It was painfully obvious how much the Chinese red head enjoyed it. The red head raised a bow and then turned her head to look at Ju. Ju matched that emerald stare, taking in the threads of black that seemed to send memory shivering down her spine. She fought those thoughts, though—buried them down, and began thinking of her mother. Ju's gaze hardened when it all came together. This woman was the one who killed her father and the majority of the servants in teh Tao home. She was the reason her mother committed suicide. Dry facts that made the young Tao want to rip the princess's flesh off and resew it into the body of a horrid looking old hag.

Rem bared his teeth. "Your job here is done. You and your slave may leave."

A crooked smile touch the woman's lips and she signaled for her spirit to come down, the giant bird did as it was told. Rem noticed the large bird holding a large silver ring in its claws, it was so big the beast had to hold on two it with both of his claws tightly; the redhead appeared on the bird's back, her green eyes continuing to stare at the two Taos, "Well, I _will _take my leave now. Of course not because the great Tao Rem commands it, but because if I stay I might have the urge to kill you."

"You sound so confident you can kill us."

The woman gave a smug smile, "Asakura Hao doesn't make unskilled shaman his followers. I'm good at what I do." she patted the bird on the back and the bird spread out its large wings and began flapping them, the surrounding air blasting in every direction due to the force. The green haired boy, stood up on the branch and extended his right arm, his hand in a fist as he aimed. A small bang was heard and a slightly invisible wire wrapped itself around the silver ring in the bird's grasp. The boy jumped and the wire pulled him all the way up to the ring, where he sat down and hanged on tightly.

"Wait a minute!" shouted Ju, as the bird was gaining altitude, "What the hell is your name?"

The red head looked down once more, her mouth whispering a name that the wind carried right into Tao Rem's ear. He tightened his hands into fists, his grip so hard his knuckles were turning white.

"Ming Wilhemina."

**...**

When the Shaman Queen woke up, she remained to feel tired, her eyes slowly fluttered as she awoke, the room becoming blurry then she could see just fine.

"Ah good, you've finally woken up."

Annaka turned her head to see Hao standing at the door to 'her' room, leaning his back against the wall, his arms crossed, and that trademark smirk of his on his face. The sun behind him was beginning to rise. How long had she been asleep?

"You didn't sleep much," Hao answered her mental question, "You slept for about an hour, but then again...45 minutes from that hour came from you sleeping on my lap. I must admit I rather enjoyed that position. You move a lot when you sleep."

The blonde thought of his comment then turned her head to look away from him, mentally cursing herself for blushing. Ultimo, who was in the corner of the room watched his master's actions and frowned, something was changing within his master and he could feel it. He looked over at Hao who smirked and tried hard not to laugh, the karakuridoji had already realized the Patch's feelings for his master, whether or not he should tell Joan was another issue. After all, although he was made for Annaka, Joan was the one who made him.

Footsteps were heard as Emmetto suddenly appeared behind of Hao, the blonde haired boy looking as if he himself had just woken up, turned to his master and tilted his head, "I'm ready to take the Nee-san," he said dully, his actions, all in slow movement reminded both Annaka and Ultimo of a sloth. The boy turned to look straight at the Shaman Queen with his grey eyes, then he dipped his body into a bow, "I'll do my best to watch over you."

Annaka raised a brow and looked at Hao, "I need a body-guard now?" she asked in an unpleased tone.

Hao uncrossed his arms and turned his back on the blonde, but turned his head to look back, "Since you have the tendency to get lost or kidnapped, I decided it would be best to have someone watch over you."

The blonde female stood up from the futon and crossed her arms, looking dead at Hao with a glare, "I already have someone to watch over me thank you. I don't need another kid to watch over me like an annoying little brother who run to daddy whenever his Onee-chan did something wrong."

Emmetto just yawned.

Hao turned around to face Annaka, Ultimo could feel the atmosphere change and lighting escape crackle between the two, "You sure are a strange woman," Hao said, his tone sounding rather insulting, "Let me make something clear though," he grabbed Annaka by her crossed arms and slammed her into the wall, his long body towering over her, although the blonde didn't even blink as he did. "Just because you're a woman doesn't mean I'm going to be easy on you. You're pretty face is nothing compared to my authority, so I suggest you start listening to me before your pheromones stop working on me." He lowered his head to her ear and softly whispered, "And just to make sure you don't think of going back to your family yet..." before Annaka could react, Asakura uncrossed the blonde's hands and pinioned them behind her back, then lowered his head further and placed his lips on her neck, smirking as he felt her writhe under his touch.

He finally let go and stared at the shocked look on Annaka's face, Ultimo had a similar look on his face, and Emmetto had just raised his brows. Hao gave a triumphant smirk and turned to walk away, "I doubt you'll be able to go home and explain that mark on your neck to your family, so this way I can make sure you stick close to Em. If you try to run away he can always just sniff and find you, that's a real bodyguard...unlike your little toddler over there." Ultimo frowned, and with that Asakura Hao made his exit, leaving the three alone.

Emmetto drowsily looked at Annaka, "I'll wait for you to get ready, Nee-chan," then he left.

Ultimo looked at his master with concern, he took a few steps towards as he saw her frozen body shake, "Heika-sama...?"

Annaka placed her palm against the mark on her neck and narrowed her eyes, her body shaking in infuriated rage, "That bastard..."

The three shamans walked down the pathway of the woods. Nature continued it course of For a moment, Annaka had the thought of walking away. Leaving would be the best answer. She could escape back to her quarters and never see Asakura Hao or his minions ever again. The world was big enough, she could achieve it. After the Shaman Fight would be ever how would she manage to ever even catch a glimpse of him?

"Oi, Nee-chan, why do you hide your face?" Emmetto as he walked in front of Annaka.

Annaka stared at Emmetto's back as she spoke to him, "Is it any of your business?" she coldly asked, annoyed at this whole event. _'I'll kill Asakura…'_

Emmetto looked behind him as he continued walking his face entirely dull and tired-like, "But Nee-chan, I don't see why you would want to hide it…because Nee-chan has a very pretty face…"

Ultimo stopped walking; Annaka looked down at his knuckles as she passed him, they were pale from the stop of blood flow. Emmetto continued also noticing it and gave a very lazy laugh, "Don't worry," he began, "I have someone else I fancy!"

"I assume it to be that bloody pink haired one. Tamao is it?" The past week she had been held in Asakura's residence she continued to hear nothing but Tamao rant about how she was the pinnacle of evil. The Shaman Queen's head pounded with irritation so much so that she could barely understand how the others who heard her could endure it. The bloody pink haired couldn't seem to calm down. She just continued and continued, to her Hao was being conceited, a bigot and that all of the ills of the world flowed forth from his decision to even consider me and this decision infected all other aspects of life in general.

At some points during her rage, Annaka wanted to laugh and during other moments, she wanted to send the girl to the inferno. How a kid such as the one before her could like such a witch...was beyond her mind reading abilities. But she could tell.

The corners of his lips pulled up into a derisive smile, catching the Shaman Queen off guard, could such an lazy angelic face make such a smile? "Yes ma'am." For a moment, he looked like he wanted to laugh, but it may have just been a play of light for he gave her a solemn expression the next second. "You shouldn't call her by her name, strangers just call her Rose."

"Clever pseudonym. How did come up with that one? From her rosy cheeks and her girlish aura?"

He didn't respond, too occupied coming up with the perfect response to the insult the female threw at his type. Sighing, Annaka turned toward the other direction. Ultimo gave her a satisfied grin before he ran back after them.

We walked in silence, so much so that all three of them could hear other voices in the distance. Annaka looked up and immediately felt waves of furyoku burst her way as if it were the wind on a stormy day. So many Shamans were in the Patch Village, thousands more must've found their way in her absence of one week. None of these Shamans payed any attention to the three and for that the Queen was grateful, she and Ultimo continued to follow the blonde male till he stopped at some tables right outside the Patch Cafe. He pulled out the chairs and signaled them to sit down, they reluctantly obeyed. "Anything specific you want to eat?" he asked us soon as their posteriors found comfort in the chairs.

The female raised her eyebrows. "Really?" she huffed, repositioning so that she was facing Emmetto. "You're telling me that you were forced to bring me here to make me eat?"

"Yes Onee-chan. Hao-sama told you this himself."

"The brute didn't look serious."

Emmetto gave a boyish shrug, "I have my orders, sorry."

"Use your imagination and get us something off menu."

"Okay! On it!" With that the kid left.

Annaka and Ultimo sat in silence, neither willing to make the atmosphere any more tensed then it was. Yet the room seemed to grow darker and darker with Annaka's demeanor. Ultimo could feel goose-bumps rising on his arms with the intensity of it. He seemingly tried to ignore this for he had never been the one to sit in awkward silences. Silence itself did not bother him, but this silence felt as if a ceiling of daggers hung over him, a strange tension was building as the time drug on and on.

"Ultimo what day is it?"

The robot boy blinked, and looked up to see his master gazing at the pot of flowers in the middle of the table. The pot was hideous but the flowers inside were none other than Nadeshiko flowers and a large bundle of them, Ultimo wondered how he missed such a decoration on the table. But the only time the Cafe ever place such expensive flowers on anything was for-

"I'll be back."

Annaka stood up from her seat and jolted into the large crowd of people, disappearing from her subordinate's sight faster than he could even think, she might have looked suspicious running around town, hiding her face and her body under a cloak, but she didn't care. Today was the anniversary of Nadeshiko's death, meaning that Joan could possibly be going to lay flowers at his grave any time today. That man was a brave Patch soldier who died for a stupid cause that was the doing of Big Chief's bad informatory. Now that Annaka had heard the full story of Nadeshiko's death from Asakura several days before, she knew that her elder sister would've felt guilt within her. And that every year she would go and pray to his tomb to ask for forgiveness.

The blonde pushed her way past armored men, silked women, playing children, until she found the grave. Her feet stopped moving, and her cloak fell back from her face, allowing anyone to see a new definition of rage on her face.

Directly in front of where she stood, she saw Nadeshiko's grave, the rock was cracked and shattered in certain areas where large metal weapons were being slammed against it. The owners of the armory were cursing saying stupid shit about almost dying because they tripped on the thing.

Anger spilled viciously through the Queen. Even she wasn't even sure why she was so angry, but it pulled from every part of her. And those men where idiots for even thinking of what they were doing.

"What do you think you're doing?" the blonde asked at the idiots.

The men stared at Annaka, their eyebrows raising themselves in awe at her beauty. One of them, one with grey hair half hidden by a metal pileus, wrapped his arm around the Shaman Queen, much to her disgust. Annaka glared at the males all of them were dressed in what looked like sheets, nothing but white robes covering most of their skin, some wore golden armor or a head gear, but by their clothing the Shaman Queen could tell, the men were Greeks. "Well gorgeous," the man began to speak, finding himself a bit too comfortable with his arm wrapped around Annaka, "we were just having a little fun with these measly spirit, no harm done, right?"

Annaka narrowed her eyes at the arm that rested on her shoulders, with one moved she grabbed the man's arm and bended it to where she twisted it and tightly held it against his back, the male grimaced in pain. Annaka's eyebrows came closer to each other as she frowned at the other seven guys who stared at her in shock, "That _measly spirit_, whose tomb stone you've just broke, belongs to a well respected Patch Official, you bastards."

She kicked the guy and he fell to the ground in front of the other seven men. One of them, one with curly brown hair narrowed his eyes, "Women should just stay at home," he proclaimed, making his way to the blonde, cracking his knuckles slowly, "Should I teach you to behave, _Miss_?"

The blonde moved her eyes to look towards the guy; the other males also began to circle her as the curly brunette stepped in front of her. He slung his fist back to meet with her face, Annaka duck and swung her foot forward, right into the man's crotch. The brunette flew about three feet in the air, his body slammed back down to ground, he wailed in pain. Annaka took the event as a good distraction and grabbed one guys arm and swung him into three others. The two that were left jumped in the air ready to jump down on her, the blonde jumped and slammed her elbow into one guy's and she slammed her fist into the last one's gut. All the Greeks fell to the ground with a _thump_ and in the middle of them all stood Annaka.

The Shaman Queen did not even break a sweat, she looked at the men and sighed, "Pathetic," she muttered.

"Very impressive," a voice praised behind her, followed by a pair of clapping hands.

Annaka turned.

A man stood behind her, with a very smug look on his face. He pushed back a strand of his long silky hair, pitch black, reaching past his waist. Annaka gazed at his clothing; the man wore an open-fronted doublet and a cloak tied over one shoulder over a low-necked shirt of fine linen, gathered and trimmed with a band of gold braid or embroidery. On his legs he wore long white breeches and black leather boots. Without a doubt the man was Spaniard.

The man's violet eyes gazed at the blonde from top to bottom, examining carefully as if she were a gem. Annaka raised a brow. The man smiled. "Pardon my manners, _senorita,_" he spoke casually, stepping over the unconscious bodies and making his way over to her, "but I am finding myself quite fond of your features," he stepped closer, reaching his hand out to stroke her cheek, "I am curious to know what race produces a female with such beauty."

Annaka smacked his hand away, narrowing her eyes in disgust, "My race is the one that does not like to be touch," she snarled. She turned around and saw a blade just centimeters away from the skin of her neck. The blade was held by a very thin female with long white blonde hair, her blue-violet eyes had a malicious tint to them, one of anger and spite.

"Should I kill her, Haro-sama?" she asked with a strange accent.

Annaka's eyes grew… _'Haro-sama?'_

_"Have you ever heard of the Molina?" Hao had asked her several days ago _**[A/N: See chapter 17 to refresh your memory.] **_Annaka shook her head. "You must be human not to have heard of them," He mocked, she narrowed her eyes. Hao continued. "Humans do not know of them, at least not yet, but they are the largest clan of shamans after the Patch tribe. This is why the two are rivals, the Molina want control over the Shaman Fight but the Patch have always been the ones to control the will of the Great Spirit. The Molina have the despicable idea of turning humans into shamans in order to one day be in control of the Great Spirit, their theory is simple. Capture humans, have them in a divine near-death experience, then if they do not have a shamanic ability they kill them right on the spot… Haro, leader of the Molina."_

Annaka took a step away and gazed at the small girl with the snowy hair, her attire was very strange as she wore a long black gown with gold embroidery and sleeves with small puffs right below the shoulders, the gown came tight around her small waist, but the pattern of gold yarn and buttons did not falter as it went down to the ground, and there was a more see-through material that was at her upper chest and from elbows to her wrists. The Shaman Queen don't know how long it took to notice all these things about her, maybe a half a second, but instantly after remembering Asakura's story Annaka knew the identity of the girl.

Idina.

The girl's large violet eyes bore holes through the Shaman Queen's body, her tan hand holding the blade tightly, she was ready for an order. Haro smiled at the girl and shook his head, "No need, Idina," he told her calmly, "I've become…interested in her."

"Well become uninterested," Annaka snarled, turning to walk to away, "Because you're very annoying."

Haro began to laugh, he was amused…_very _amused… "Now, now. You must come with me after amusing me in such ways!"

"I already told you 'no'."

"I won't take that as an answer." He smirked, his hand rising, his fingers made a quick snap and something began to appear behind him. A beast much larger than it should be, walking up behind its master with its eight long hairy legs. A giant spider. It stood behind Haro with its eyes looking hungry,

Haro gave a very smug look as the shamans who passed by the scene gasped in shock and awe, "Then I'm sure this little one can tell you how I capture what I want when they refuse."

Annaka looked above the beast and saw a petite girl, tied up, wrists, ankles, and waist. But not with rope but…webs…spider webs as thick as rope. Short spiky hair, tan, blue eyes…Patch uniform…it was Arisu.

The Shaman Queen's eyes narrowed, "You're disgusting, Haro."

The Molina leader smiled, "You think so?"

The blonde opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by another voice that spoke.

"What an eye sore." Haro's brows raised themselves as a cloaked figure emerged from the crowd. Annaka recognized the person instantly, by the tone of malicious death in her voice.

Tamao took a step forward and took off her cloak, revealing to Haro and the audience her pale skin, long pink hair, and her dark, diabolical pink eyes. "Let her go." she ordered with a violent hiss.

Haro's laugh rang in everyone's ears, he was amused, the damn bastard. "I'm afraid, my dear, that I will not do that," he gave her a malicious smirk and snapped his fingers once more.

Two large shadows jumped and emerged into view in front of them. One, a large brown bear. The second, a large muscled man. Slight curls of dark brown hair took over the top of his head, the rest was taken over by muscle that could be seen even with his clothing. Haro stuck out a hand that pointed to the big guy, "This would be one of my strongest allies, Felipe, he listens to everything I say without second thoughts. I could tell him to let the girl down, but I will not do that. But…" he crossed his arms, "but you're welcome to fight Felipe, if you wish. Then maybe I'll reconsider."

The people who watched began to whisper. Many of them wondering if they should leave or even considering to help. Others feeling rather entertained by the performance they were watching, making several bets among themselves. But more than half were definitely scared, thinking that these people they would eventually have to battle in the tournament.

The big guy, Felipe, took one look at Tamao and whistled, "Not bad."

From the many whispers and sounds from the viewers, there was a low, deep noise that Annaka heard behind her, though it sounded more like the growl of an angry lion than anything human. Annaka turned her head halfway, a large group of people had gathered to see what the commotion was, they looked with interest and fear. Annaka scanned the audiences' faces and caught the visage of a familiar face, and it effectively froze the Shaman Queen in place. It was Emmeto. He looked past furious. Almost past murderous, even. He came up behind Annaka slowly, until he ran passed her and at inhuman speed Jeikobu followed, snarling behind him, ready to kill, just like his master.

Felipe jumped in front of him, the large brown bear jumping in front of Jeikobu. The bear was going after Emmetto first, but somehow Em jump over it and spun out of Felipe's grasp. Or so he thought, Felipe was able to grasp Em's arm just as the bear pounded on Jeikobu, both animal snapping their fangs, and clawing at each other's skin. Em turned around and grabbed a hold of both of Felipe's wrists, then he got the big guy and swung him down to the ground, where the cement floor cracked at the impact. Em jump over Felipe's body, but the big guy got his foot and sent him to the ground, throwing his weight on Em's body and placing him into an inescapable arm hold.

"Nice try kid," Haro called out from his position, "but it's not that simple."

"Damn you." Em hissed, "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!"

"No need." Tamao spoke up "He's already damned."

The Spanish devil smiled, "Even after seeing my followers' strength you still chose to fight?"

"Beautiful Japanese girls should stay home and drink tea," Felipe spoke up mockingly.

Emmetto's eyes flared in rage, "You-"

"-Em!" Emmetto's eyes looked at Tamao in confusion. Rose's tone had done its job, it shut him up. Her eyes landed on Felipe, then on Jeikobu, then back to Felipe, a smirk appeared on her face "Go to Hell."

A roar bursted its way into all ears as it echoed and bounced off the walls of the room, Annaka's head jerked to see that Jeikobu had bitten the bear and had swung him across the room right into the web that Ari hung from, the web ripped and Ari came to the floor. Idina grabbed her, pulling back her arms with her left hand, and held a golden Egyptian axe up to her throat.

Felipe was distracted by just those three seconds. What a stupid mistake. Tamao's hand fell on his shoulder and she swung him back, all possible 197 pounds of muscle. And in that small amount of time Em acted. Idina suddenly became stiff, her body not responding to the commands she was screaming mentally. The only thing that moved was her eyes, and they grew wide. Ari's previously harsh breathing lightened; while Haro's increased in excitement, he was so excited he clapped.

"Not bad at all, an anesthetic ability! How exciting!" he cleared his throat and look at Idina with a soft smile. "Idina, my dear, I believe now is the appropriate time to show everyone your ability." Idina looked at him as if he were crazy…he kept his smile, "Just try, my dear."

Idina's eyes fell on her axe, for a moment many thought they saw sparks jumping off her hands… close enough…for the next thing heard brought goosebumps to those around…Ari's scream.

Her scream bounced off the walls and just kept coming. It was a combination of sharpening an axe and a dying bird, no matter what it sounded like, it still made everyone's ears bleed.

In the two seconds that Ari was being electrocuted inside her body, Emmetto was able to shut off all of Idina's senses, and she fell back to the ground, but not before her axe accidentally cut a bit Ari's arms. Ari's body was now sweating, gasping for air, she placed her left hand on the womb in her arm. But both Annaka and Tamao noticed something flashed in her eyes as they turned grey and quickly went back to their ocean blue glow.

Haro's head turned to look behind him to the crowd of people. Annaka's eyes followed Haro's gaze to a certain unique looking girl. She had very strange features, a heart-like but round face, with two very round eyes, and silky hair that seemed to change colors with her movements, from black to dark blue and back, it depended on the sunlight. As for her skin…it was surprisingly paler than expected to be, it was an extremely light olive complexion instead of the dark brown that would've matched her features much better. As for her eyes…they are indescribable. Her right hand was clasped over her mouth and nose, her skin had become paler, her breathing was accelerating, and her previously brown eyes where turning clear blue, almost fluorescent.

Haro face had a smirk on it, "Desdemona…_estás bien?_"

The girl shook her head violently, "_S-sa-sangre…_" she whispered to Haro. Haro looked at Ari, then at her arm, a smile appeared on his face, he walked and bent over to Desdemona's ears and whispered something. To Annaka looked like he said '_Está bien.'_ … it's okay.

The girl's eyes dilated and she violently turned to look at Ari, opening her mouth, something about that scared Ari and she began to take cautious steps back. Then she turned around and tried to run, Desdemona chased behind her, and was catching up to her. When she was at jumping distance, that's what she did she jumped in the arm to slam down on her, and Ari tripped over her feet just as soon as Desdemona was about to land on her.

Annaka was about to grab Ari out of the way until something quick cut into the air and wrapped itself around the girl's body and slung her to the ground beside the one who sent out the wire. Lysander. The girl struggled to get free and the blonde Shaman Queen saw her body begin to glow sending out some Furyoku. She was Oversouling…..

Then, Ari screamed.

Hao's allies jerked their bodies and saw a reptile-like being, appearing to have leathery greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back. It had a panther-like nose and face, a forked tongue, and large fangs, it was screeching loudly at Ari, his two front legs/arms holding down her arms, and it's two back ones holding down her legs.

"My fellow Shamans," Haro announced proudly, to all who were watching with fear and disgust. Annaka's eyes narrowed, the bastard liked an audience. "Let me introduce you a creature yet unknown to the world, _La Chupacabra_. The goat eater. Its diet is simple. Blood. And not just goat blood as its name says."

The Chupacabra screeched. Ari screamed.

Tamao looked from the Chupacabra, to Ari, and back up to Haro. "You'll be going to hell for this Haro," she said in a rather cocky way.

Haro smiled and looked at Ari, "I'll take my chances." He looked at Em then his eyes made their way to Idina and back, "Let go of her senses."

Emmetto glared at him and looked at Tamao, asking her what to do, the pink haired shaman shrugged, "Don't let her go," everyone's heads jerked to look at her, she shrugged again, "You'll see."

That was when both Annaka and Emmetto heard footsteps.

Something black with fur jump out from the crowd behind Haro, the distance from the crowd to the Chupacabra was far but the thing made it and it threw its body to knock the Chupacabra off Ari and crashing into the wall of a nearby building. Then it chased after it and the beast opened its mouth revealing two large fangs that snapped into the Chupacabra's neck, and it screeched in pain.

In front of Lysander, Desdemona also screamed in pain she began hyperventilating and, when close enough, you could see something spreading through her veins…poison. In twenty seconds of struggling, her body stopped moving…as so did the Chupacabra's…

For a second the thing that had saved Ari looked like Jeikobu, but it was not. This thing was grey-black in colour with a dark coat of fur. It was a male with a deep set of blood-red glowing eyes. His piercing claws were like sharpened steel, and his fangs were obviously poisonous. Haro stared at the wolf-like creature and sighed after looking at Desdemona's unbreathing body. "You killed my best tracker…" he looked behind him, "Jasparo…"

Ari's eyes widened.

The crowd behind Haro parted like the Red Sea and out came a figure, cloaked, but his body was very tall and lean, and you could see a few locks of blond outside of the cloak. He walked up to Haro's side and pulled off the hood of his cloak. His face was now showing to everyone. And you could see it all, his face was cold and he seemed very apathetic, his hair was honey blond and it was unruly but partly curly. His grey eyes looked at Haro in an almost violent way and then he spoke, "There's a reason why people hunt these so called _Ciuateteos, _Haro." His eyes went to the big wolf-like creature, "Jaecar," he called, signaling him to come to his side.

The wolf-like creature, Jaecar, left the Chupacabra's side and went to Ari, picking her up by her clothes and ran to Jasparo, dropping her into Jasparo's arms. He grabbed her gently and held her into his arms, then his eyes fell on Hao and the others, "What the hell is going on Haro?" he asked as Ari shivered in his arms, he looked down from his 6'3" stature and looked down at 5'6" pixie in his arms, noticing the cut on her arm, his eyes narrowed, "You hurt her." he hissed through his gripped teeth.

"Correction," Haro said, "Idina hurt her, but it was an accident."

"Some accident, Haro." A voice rang out loudly above all others.

Then the temperature started to rise. Annaka knew what was coming next.

Flames ignited suddenly from the air, first from the ground then up to the sky and from it came out the lovely red spirit Annaka had seen plenty of times now to know it anywhere. The Spirit of Fire. Annai sat on the left shoulder of the spirit. And of course on the spirit's right hand sat the Patch Official that had already annoyed the Shaman Queen enough.

Hao sat with his legs crossed and one elbow propped up on his knee, his chin resting on the palm of his hand. His face was entirely calm and he held a very cocky grin upon his lips. His eyes circled the scene, first gazing at Annaka before making its way to look at Haro.

"Asakura Hao!" Haro yelled in a giddy voice, "Oh, how long it's been! Three years, am I right?"

Asakura's face stayed completely calm, "Well I was hoping it would've been longer," he admitted, "But it seems your power hungry ego can't keep itself away from Ari."

"Yes, well she's a very good pawn to have on my board, as you may know."

Annaka's face grew dark, the bastard was talking as if he were friends with Asakura, as if he was not trying to kill anyone at the moment. She wanted to kill him so bad.

Hao stared at Haro a long while before he jumped down from the spirit of fire and made his way to the ground without harm. He walked and stopped beside of Annaka and grabbed the hood of her cloak and placed it over her head, making her face not seen. Then he stopped a few feet away from Haro, "You decided to have fun with a few of my allies because you felt bored, Haro?" he asked, raising a brow.

Haro began to laugh, "I was merely trying to pick up that beautiful young lady over there before these others appeared!" he explained as if he were innocent.

Hao's eyes grew dark, "You touch her and I'll burn your hand off, Haro."

Haro's brows shot up, his eyes having a very excited tint in them, "A love interest, eh? A…new _amor_?"

"Exactly." Annai responded in Hao's place. Annaka raised a brow. Tamao's fists tightened. The female Asakura leapt from her position on the S.O.F's shoulder to the ground right in front of both Tamao and Annaka "So I suggest you keep your disgusting hands off of her."

"Oh, how interesting your visits are, Hao!" the Molina leader laughed.

Asakura smiled, "Good. I wouldn't like to bore a man before I kill him."

The Molina leader smiled maliciously, "Is that so?" he said conceitedly, "Then you must allow me to keep Ari, she is very fun to be with."

Asakura's smile faded.

Jasparo looked from Haro to Hao and sighed, he let go of Arisu and pushed her into Lysander's arms, "Take her," he told Hao.

Hao smirked as Arisu got pushed into Lysander's arms. She clutched him tightly and buried her face in his shirt.

That was when the fat lady screamed.

Right there in the front row of the audience you could see a large woman screaming her lungs out as something large and hairy bit into her neck with two large fangs. Rapidly, you could see the woman begin to lose weight, her skin beginning to stick to her bones. Then she was engulfed by a blue light and became her normal body weight. Annaka wrinkled her nose in disgust. The only thing that looked different on the large woman was a blue glow surrounding her and large hungry eyes.

Before anyone could blink, a shadow threw itself at Annaka and grabbed her from behind, holding a knife to her neck.

Everyone's eyes widened.

It was a stupid reaction, for in that small second of shock another shadow had snatched Annai out from behind Nagehiko in one fluid action. A blade was positioned at her neck, threatening to pierce her skin as well.

"_Buen trabajo_, _mis sirvientes_," a voice called out.

Heads turned to look at no one else but Desdemona who was rising from her spot on the floor, her wounds completely healed, her eyes showing hunger as well as rage.

"Desdemona what are you doing? Release her!" Haro ordered in confusion.

"_No quiero,"_ Desdemona said sweetly. She laughed at the murderous fury flashing across the Asakura Hao's visage. "_El shaman mas poderoso del mundo, eh?"_ she said in a mocking tone, followed by a small chuckle,_ "Quiero tu cabeza, Asakura Hao. _"

The Chupacabra growled. Desdemona's eyes narrowed as she nodded briefly to her men. Neither Annaka nor Annai whimpered as the blade was pressed deeper against their throat, drawing blood from their flesh.

"WAAAAAAARGGGHH!"

The horrifying scream halted everyone in their tracks. Their shocked stares went automatically to where the person had been holding Annaka, who suddenly felt heat rise from behind her, her back suddenly becoming warm. She turned around and saw a woman with a blade in her hand, being engulfed in flames.

"Help…" she gurgled, rolling desperately in a futile attempt to put out the agonizing flames that were licking, consuming every part of her small frail body.

The Shaman Queen's face wrinkled in disgust, the grotesque sight of a living, breathing being getting roasted alive before her made a long shiver run up her spine. It was much different than watching a Jiang Shi burn. Those would simply come apart without a skeleton or blood being seen. But this woman…her flesh would turn black before it came off of her, you could see her blood literally boil, you could see bone were the pieces of muscle and flesh used to be.

And blood.

Pure, innocent blood.

Yes…it was much different.

The disgusting smell of burning flesh made viewers vomit, many covering their mouths with their hands to prevent from doing so. Others began to slowly back away from the scene, terrified and most definitely scarred for life. And there were those few who were simply entertained.

Someone else screamed.

Annaka looked around her, the man who once had Annai in his grasp was already rapidly decaying. Strangled yells cut through the air in unison with the roaring thunder, as three other people under Desdemona's control started to become human torches. Each one leaving a new pile of ash on the ground.

"Hao-sama! Stop it!" Lysander yelled. "Calm down!" he looked at all the bodies. He couldn't understand why Hao wouldn't stop. These people were being controlled they had done nothing wrong. Then why? Why? "HAO-SAMA!"

Seemingly oblivious to Lysander's cries, as well as those of the innocent shamans that were going up in flames, the Asakura started to raise his hand. The flames grew more intense, creeping their way nearer to the shamans, who were by now half-crazed with fear; they tried hard to escape the grasp of Desdemona's control but it was no use, that girl had full control over them.

Now, screams were echoing right, left and centre. "_Desdemona, pare_!" Haro screeched to pale girl. "That's enough Desdemona! Stop right now!" he ordered, "You'll get us all killed!

The girl did not listen, she continued to move the bodies who now seemed to be terrified out of their skins. They fell, as a line of fire spread like a fiery serpent, trapping them in a circle of hell before they could even think of escaping. The heat from the fires was so great, the ground was rapidly being dented with crater holes. The ring of flames closed in falling on their bodies, five new shamans were already alight, their screams starting to die down as they were reduced to piles of smoldering ash in the middle of the crater.

The screams which had resounded upon the fire's contact with flesh tapered off into silence faster than anyone would have expected.

Tamao calmly stood watching as more and more people were being burned to crisps right before her eyes. Hazily, many who were watching wondered why the pink haired shaman was still able to hold her ground without even a flinch. By now many people had scrambled their way to get the hell out of there, yet she calmly watch, with nothing crossing her face. Just a calm and dull look.

"She's a monster," one woman had the nerve to spit out. Two others nodded their heads in agreement. "A demon."

"That girl…she's one of Asakura Hao's followers, isn't she."

"To be watching something like this without changing her expression…does she have no heart?"

Tamao's eyebrow gave a faint twitch and before anyone could blink a gust of wind blew around her, revealing a rather large winged Dai Tengu behind her. Tamao turned her head, the women's composed, haughty faces no longer looked tranquil but now looked scared out of their wits. Their wide eyes stared at Tamao and the grand beast behind her. Annaka couldn't see Tamao's face, but the all three of the women's visage had gone a pasty, unattractive white, and it was enough of a clue to figure out the pink head's current expression.

"You want me to do something?" she asked menacingly, raising a brow upwards in question. "Alright then," –she pulled out her paper seal doll and stared at the new victims of the Chupacabra, narrowing her eyes- "**Shugen Kijin Shiekihou Gokugi: Kamaizuna**!"

The Dai Tengu unleashed a series of sword strikes, moving so rapid that it made the attack appear to be several swords attacking at once. The blade slashed for several seconds at the shamans in front of Tamao, then stopped. For a second it grew quiet before the bodies of the victims had pieces moving in several directions, their inside flesh and bones being seen by everyone, blood being splattered around the area.

"Hmm," Tamao hummed as if in thought, "could I have been a bit too hard on them…?"

The three women all looked at her in shock, breathing in deep breathes of air, "H-h-how could you! These are still people! You're a heartless demon! A-"

The females didn't manage to keep their vocal cords working after Hao shifted his gaze towards them, what appeared to be a ring materialized around the women's bodies –the line of fire circled their group and came closer to contact with their skin. All of them kept their mouths opened in horror and stared at Hao, wide-eyed.

"How annoying you three are," Hao stated coolly, as the women still gapped in horror of the inferno that surrounded them. "Instead of Tamao doing something about this situation, how about I handle it instead?…" The people that had stood near the ladies backed away, terrified and shaking in silence. Hao's tranquil features split into a serene smile. "How about I permanently silence you ladies?"

Terrified gasps were beginning to ripple through the crowd once more, almost bordering upon screams. A handful of the people watching gasped at the question, for many have heard of The Great Asakura's merciless killings…

"_Que cruel eres, Hao,_" Desdemona's voice rang out above all the rest of the noise that surrounded them, Hao turned his gaze to her, she smiled, "_Que bueno seria tenerte bajo mi control…_" the fierce Chupacabra stopped feasting on another shaman and turned to look at Hao, its black eyes looking thirsty, as if agreeing with its master. '_Yes, it would be nice for you to be under my master control…'_

Hao smirked, "Sorry, but the offer fails to suit my preferences."

That's when Desdemona turned her gaze somewhere else, the image of her mind flickered in Hao's head and he knew where she was looking and he was not pleased; a sly smirk appeared on the girl's visage as she stopped staring at Annaka and Annai and turned to look at Hao. "_Entonses, siguen ellas._" Her voice whispered, a violent rasp accompanying her words.

An almost audible hiss escaped from the Patch's lips as he raised his hand, the heat around them turning up ominously in accordance to his movements. Then he snapped his fingers.

That was when the explosion occurred.

The sound of it was as if a crackle of thunder cut through the sky and landed on the earth in the form of a fiery twister, picking up all the dirt, smoke, and ashes around the area and making a large sand storm of remains.

No one could see anything without ashes going in their eyes. But they could hear one person shriek their lungs off in a foreign language in the center of the storm.

"_NO!_" someone screeched.

Annaka dared to open her eyes despite the ashes and sand that would go into them. The first thing she saw was Asakura Hao's face and then she felt her eyes grow. Even from a distance, the blonde could see the rage and insanity dancing in his brown orbs.

Hao narrowed his eyes at Desdemona, who now had a ring of fire around her neck, her body somehow about two feet of ground. The girl finally looked scared to death as she stared right into Hao's venomous eyes "So small…" he hissed, the glow of his flames only enhancing the vindictiveness spread across his features.

Annaka's eyes turned to look at Haro, the man stood on the other side of the scene his face calm as he watched his female follower being robbed of her vocal chords and her life. The other members of the Molina matched his expression, emotionless and calm.

To Annaka, those guys were the true monsters.

In spite of everything, no one was foolish enough to make another yet another noise or even take in a breath. But handfuls of them were too terrified to stay and watch any longer, yet they stayed, knowing that when the Shaman Fight would officially begin tomorrow, they would see things much more worse than this.

"_P-pare! Porfavor!_" she shrieked, a new flame appearing around her waist, another one under her feet on the ground, the orange flames under her rapidly began rising up her body. The pain, already unbearable, was intensifying. "_Lo siento! Lo siento! Sueltame porfav-"_ The rest of the girl's pleas started to turn into an intense sound of gagging as the ring was now consuming the only oxygen she could take in, and the skin on her neck beginning to be cooked.

Annaka had had enough, she pushed herself past Annai and Tamao, running up to Hao and wrapping her hand around Hao's raised arm. The look on Hao's face could scare the hell out of anyone who saw it, especially up-close, but then again, the Shaman Queen has never been controlled by fear.

"Hao…" she warned as she stared at him right in his harsh brown eyes. The heat radiating from the Hao's aura, which could only be his Furyoku, was burning through his thin garb into his skin, but she held on tight. "You've got to stop."

Asakura raised a brow, "As much as you're amusing me by ordering me to stop, I'm afraid I'll have to decline-" he stopped mid-sentence as Annaka jumped up from the ground to where Hao sat on the Spirit of Fire's hand. She landed right in front of him lightly, her hands touching the ground and only one of her knees bent, the other touching the ground. She lifted her head upward, making her the hood of her cloak fall of her head, and stared right into Hao's eyes.

"You're such a child," she whispered before she bent both knees to the ground and wrapped her arms around Hao's shoulders, to where Hao's head rested lightly against her chest. The Patch's eyes widened as he was suddenly at a loss for words as the Shaman Queen's body slid downward to where her head was now lying on Hao's chest.

She could hear his heart beat speed up and she could hear the loud thumps growing more and more with the small seconds. She could feel as his warmth slowly entered her body, her cold skin warming to a temperature that matched his. His breath would move certain strands of her hair out of place, and when his breath would reach her bare flesh, she would feel goosebumps rise on her skin and a shiver would go up her spine. She felt that Hao was calming down as she felt as his body lowered slowly by sighing. He dropped his head and placed his face right at her shoulder, his lips right beside her ear. She could practically sense the smirk on his face as he whispered into her ear.

"As you say…Annaka."

Hao snapped his fingers and Annaka could instantly feel the wind and flames begin to die down. She left go of him and placed her hood over her head, she could feel Asakura's eyes on her and felt a vein pop on her forehead because of it. "Stop staring at me," she ordered.

"I'm finding that very hard to do at the moment…"

"Don't care. Just stop."

He laughed, "As you wish."

The wind finally died down, Desdemona's body flopped to the ash-filled ground, part of the girl's neck was already cooked, leaving her with no ability to speak what-so-ever. Her eyes were huge and frightened, no one could blame her, she was about to see hell after all. Every viewer remained silent only the natural blow of the wind made any sound among the whole island at that moment.

That was when Annaka heard the first sound made. Footsteps; the soft, almost musical-like pattering brought down upon the ground with each step like the ghostly rhythm to a song, a serene atmosphere brought upon the almost gruesome scene with haunting definition. The footsteps echoed throughout the entire area until it slowly beat down to soft pats onto the ground below.

Annaka's heart sank when she saw whose footsteps it was.

Hao heard the soft approach of the stranger, and turned his head and met up with a rather large Shamash holding an axe twice Hao's size over him. Hao smirked and turned his head to meet eyes with the owner of the spirit, "Nice to see you too, Joan."

Joan D'Arc stood about ten feet in front of where Haro stood; behind her were Arrison, Marcel, and Raiden. The female patch raised a brow at the scene, as the storm began to slowly die down, her silver hair continued blowing in the air as she took two steps forward and stopped. Her crimsoned orbs stared at two things. One, the girl within a ring of ashes, her neck stained with cook meat and her hands clutching her neck as if she were slowly choking. Two, the ugly and repulsive creature that was in the hands of the Spirit of Fire, something Annaka did not notice before.

Joan slightly wrinkled her face in disgust.

Hao smirked, "It's called a Chupacabra," he mused as the creature shrieked and squirmed in the giant elemental spirit's grasp.

"Charming," she spat curtly, her eyes turned to look at Annaka and her eyebrows shot up. Hao whistled as he felt the gears turn in Joan's mind. Joan's face changed as she took a quick blink, then her brows furrowed and her lips hardened into a thin line. She turned to look at Haro, "You're the cause of all this? You'd think that after Hao dealt with you after your previous nonsense would have given you some sense, Haro."

Haro gave a creeping grin that made him look psychotic and mad, "I like powerful people, Miss D'Arc, you can't blame me for wanting her."

Hao's whole demeanor changed, a disconcerting meltdown from cool suavity to quiet fury. A flush stained his cheeks. Haro's words sparked transformation. Sweet icy rage poured through Hao; he felt cruelty pool in his eyes, his lips. As for Joan, her mask of a saint was slipping, dying, gone. She smiled; a baring of teeth, one animal to another. "_Wanting_ her, Haro?" she repeated in question through her bared teeth.

"Oh, come now. I haven't hurt her." He spoke in his defense

No, but Joan knew he would, short of killing her.

"You should hear how he wants her," Hao spoke up, "His thoughts are rather..._bold_," His eyes sparked rage, fire flickering in the shadows of his face. He could see everything as Haro planned it _Annaka is trapped in the oubliette, embracing darkness, vomiting obsidian on the cold stone floor. Haro over her, trying to make her show some sort of prodigious shamanic ability and if not he always had something else he could use her as—_

"Bastard." Annaka spat in disgust as the image poured into her mind as well, she regretted even considering to get inside of Haro's mind and immediately got out of it, not wanting to see more.

She almost used her oversoul—she could feel the Great Spirits waiting, breathless for the chance to explode free, to teach this man a lesson for all his greed and revolting lust.

_'Annaka be careful' _Joan warned mentally.

Yes, be careful. There were people watching all around, and her control was fragile at best. She could not risk exposing herself at the moment. If people were to see the Great Spirits at work...many would want to obtain it to their own greed. Annaka took a deep breath. Carefully, painstakingly, she calmed herself and tilted her head with a disdainful glare.

"Haro, I'm afraid I can't give you a chance to live." Haro cocked her head and stared at her in curious confusion, Joan turned to face him, her face no "You have the burden of the deaths of many children, you're greedy, you fornicate with you're underlings" -Idina narrowed her eyes at this- "you're obviously a man of unforgivable sins" -Haro turned smug- "But I find this matter even more intolerable seeing that its become personable."

Haro cocked a brow, "How so?"

In that moment Shamash appeared beside Annaka, an axe in his hand, the spirit brought the blade down on the blond's cloak, the fabric tore and revealed underneath her Patch Official Uniform. Haro and his subordinates turned to Joan, wide-eyed as she was no longer in _her_ Patch Uniform but in metal armor that the people around her had named the "Iron Maiden's Mask".

In her new form Joan stared at Haro, around her frail and pale body was a tight metal armor that had attached a large belt with a lock. From the sides of the belt were skirt-like alloy that went to mid-thigh but was open at the front, like a front opened metal skirt. Metal finger snappers covered her wrists and on her feet were needle shoes with spikes that struck the soles of her feet. Upon her head was a metal head frame with a mask-like figure on the back of her head. The change was made in the second Shamash cut the fabric of Annaka's cloak, yet it was an outfit to be in awe at.

Joan's eyes narrowed themselves, a bitter smile appeared on her lips, "The woman you're lusting after is my little sister."

In that instant crows cawed; leaves rustled in the cool breeze, and Haro suddenly found himself chained around his arms, legs, and waist, each of those body parts being pulled all in opposite directions by an immense Shamash in the air. Haro paled. Joan gave a gentle smile.

"Feeling unconfortable?" she asked.

Haro gritted his teeth, "Bitch," he spat, spitting from his position in the air, the loogey of his spit landing at the Maiden's feet. "If you want to kill me, do it, but your problems won't end there. I'm a well-known man. I'm even fairly likable. There are many important people who would be mighty pissed off if I disappeared or died, and trust me, my people know who you are, what you do, and where you live. Kill me, kill some of them—you won't get us all, and once the blood spills, we will come for you. You think you're the baddest badass out there? You don't know shit!" Shamash pulled on the chains and Haro stopped his threatening to scream in pain.

"Has a rather large ego, doesn't he?" Joan noted in dislike, she looked up at him, "Perhaps you do not feel helpless enough?" She looked at Idina, Felipe, and Jasparo and cocked her head, "You three will do...Shamash..."

The large God spirit moved his head, his large yellow orbs looking down at the three, a large amount of silver furyoku escaped from his eyes and landed on them. The three closed their eyes, when they opened them they found their bodies lacking the ability to move, they moved their eyes balls down. They felt the cold metal surround their bodies and saw that it held them tight against one another, as if it were a cage in the shape of all three of their bodies together.

The cage tightened around their bodies, merciless, and Idina screamed. Jaecar's own howls melded with her own, and he launched himself at the cage that surrounded his master Jasparo—only to be knocked aside by a large hammer in Shamash's graps. Jaecar found his feet in an instant, swiping at the air with his claws, hurling himself against the hammer, not giving into the God class spirit. Felipe's spirit did the same, tying to knock down the cage or take down Shamash.

Joan sighed, "Haro, I'm actually beginning to feel pity for those three..." she looked up at the Molina leader and pushed back some of her long locks of silver from her face, "I wanted you to suffer like those innocent human whom you killed mercilessly...but no pain will amount to what you did to them," she smiled, "So I'll just let the Devil deal with you for the rest of your death."

"Shamash..."

A large pyramid appeared under Haro on a tall stool; the men in the audience grimaced as they recognized none other than Juda's Cradle. Haro began screaming and begging to spare him, tears running down his eyes as he stared at the blood stain on the point of the pyramid, knowing the next blood on it would be his.

Annaka heard a gasp behind her and Hao, she looked down and saw Lysander, looking as if he were about to vomit, he could no longer hold Ari tightly and fell to his knees. Hao noticed this and sighed he snapped his fingers.

The flames soared around the scene of Haro as soon as Joan called out "Judgement," not letting anyone see and Shamash slammed Haro's lower body to the peak of the pyramid, the peak striking through his male gentiles. Nobody saw the peak tear through the Molina leader's manly organ, shredding it so that ground was tainted with splatters of red in a circular area of about 10ft squared, but they heard it they hear Haro shriek in pain, yell in such excruciating agony that could keep you up at night from its echoes in the back of your mind.

Joan ignored his screams, letting him taste pain as he had with those children, she was the one who witnessed the scene closely, Hao and Annaka were the only two others who could see the scene from their position on the Spirit of Fire. Annaka's face was blank and stern, Hao's was more amused.

After a while it seemed that Haro was in his last seconds of life that's when Joan signaled Shamash one last time before the spirit's hand morphed into a seven foot long metal stake and pierced it right the the center of the Molina leader's body, splitting his body symmetrically down the middle, with his blood covering whatever other place he had missed on the ground before, finally the screaming stopped.

Hao undid the flames and the audience that watched made sounds of shock and disgust at seeing the man's bloody corpse. Joan was now in her normal Patch clothes and made her way over to the Spirit of Fire, looking up at Hao.

"You may finish off the others...their spirits as well."

She didn't have to tell him twice.

**...**

"You're a very stubborn woman, Miss Annaka. If you had just been obedient, in the least, you wouldn't have had to see any of that."

The blond turned her attention away from the blissful sky out the window of the carriage they were riding within, she looked at Hao for a second then looked back outside, "I've seen worse. Death doesn't phase me."

A flicker of surprise registered in his eyes, "Despite your beauty, you're fearless. It's an interesting virtue in a woman."

"Don't flatter me."

Hao smirked and laid back, crossing his arms behind his head, the bumpy traveling of the carriage not distracting or disturbing his peace of mind. "That wasn't flattery, Miss Annaka, the flattery I give you is something you'd actually might enjoy."

"Bite me."

Hao responded with a smile. It grew wicked as he approached her. He leaned down to her face, his hair creating a tent around them. Annaka warned him with her glaring eyes when he cupped her chin in his hand. He tilted it up, first gently, then forcefully when the blonde refused; Annaka was not one to budge under his charisma. And it was exactly her resistance to his charms that made him desire her more. It was very much in his nature to want what he couldn't have.

"I'd bite you with pleasure, Miss Annaka," he whispered, touching her shoulders; she felt the heat of his hands sink through her clothing into skin; hot like his urgency, the insistence of his dark gaze.

The moment of fear in Annaka's eyes was brief as she immediately regained her composure and slapped his hand away. When she did, Hao grabbed her palm and darted his tongue against her skin. Annaka's eyes widened, and as he trailed kisses across her wrist, she found herself frozen and gazed at him with strange eyes, her cheeks flushed, lips parted. Hao continued pressing kisses on her palms, and then her face, her throat. She shivered and found it hard to breathe, Hao stopped and looked down at her face, and something soft fluttered in his teasing eyes, he bent down to her ear and whispered, "Enjoying it?" he asked with a smirk.

Annaka was having trouble breathing and her heart refused to slow down, _did_ this mean she enjoyed it? "Go to hell," she said. At least, she tried to. The moment she opened her mouth, Hao kissed her on her forehead, leaving a strange warmth in that area while she froze again. She mentally cursed herself as the brunette softly chuckled.

"You are..._very_ hard to understand," he mused and reached out to touch her cheek. His hand actually felt good. She leaned into his palm, and after a moment he drew her into the circle of his arms, his touch sliding up, up past her waist, over her shoulder blades, until he cradled her face in his hands. Annaka's breath caught. Really, she should tell him to stop touching her. Really, there was no reason in the world he should think to get away with that kind of behavior, but…

He kissed her chin, the place that was only millimeters away from her lips. Annaka swallowed hard. "Stop." she ordered, feeling her voice leaving her, her body overheating suddenly.

He did as she asked him to, but not without a large smugged smirk plastered on his features.

"Don't look at me like that," he said with amusement as Annaka recovered and glared holes through him, "You liked it."

She turned on her side so that she didn't have to look at him, she was angry, but not at Hao, because she was sure...he was speaking the truth. Not that she would give in so easily to it though. "Shut up. I don't know what I like."

Hao edged close, pushing the tensed air aside. He tangled his fingers together and rested his chin on his knuckle, his warm chocolate orbs looking into her eyes. His was an old-souled gaze, dark and strong. "You're stubborn," he said quietly. "Surly you don't wish to acknowledge your attraction to me?"

She swallowed hard, she calmed herself before answering, "I've been locked up until a week ago, Asakura. Yes, you've been the most pleasant of men that I've had a chance to look at, but I can assure you your personality is a let down to my taste."

He chuckled, the blonde was cold and distant…even cruel, but Hao liked her for that. He even knew she had the reason for being so cold, but she couldn't reveal it to him…maybe not now, but someday…

They rode on in silence, one of them feeling rather relieved of the quiet, the other irritated. The Shaman Queen felt her heartbeat slow down in its pace, why had Joan allowed her to ride in this carriage back to the cafe with Asakura? And why was she not enraged that for the past week her absence had been due to this man? She could not comprehend anything at the moment. Why did she hug Asakura back then, how did she manage to get a clue that that would have calmed him? And why was her body acting so strangely at his touch? She was to be a figure who wouldn't be phased by anything, especially a man's touch. Her eyes found themselves staring at him, she clutched her hands in her lap. She continued to feel the weight of his fingers, his lips, the memory as real as flesh. God. He was good. Touching him was too dangerous.

The carriage was so tiny it was impossible not to brush up against each other. Every touch, no matter how innocent, made fire in her belly. She could not help herself. It was sickness, a disease, and even if she could have cured herself began to think she would not have, because it felt too good. In her younger years she would hear the women in her tribe speak of how it was exciting, to be so near a man who was worthy of warmth. So many were not. Just illusions, parading themselves like cheap facades. Not worth keeping over the long, hard years.

Hao was no illusion. With his shamanic abilities he could become Shaman King.

"How did you cope, Hao? What did you do when you were alone after your mother was gone?"

Hao jerked back, surprised, but Annaka refused to let take her gaze off him. "How much do you know?" he asked, his eyes flickering in irritation, fire shining through the irritation, then a cool water putting out the fire and replacing it with pain. It hurt to talk about his mother.

"She was killed, that's all I know."

"By humans."

She stared at him, a question hanging from the tip of her tongue, her curiosity taking the best of her, "Do you not consider yourself human?"

"No," he said, his eyes narrowing, . "You're not human either. Shamans are not humans."

"Human enough." Hao laughed at her response, a bitter smile forming on his lips.

"Having humanity and being human are two different things, Miss Annaka," Hao licked his lips. "Humans..." His mouth felt dry. "Their children beat me with fists, rocks, and sticks, some even used clubs and weapons. When I laid there unconscious I saw the men of the village make their way to my home..." his eyes grew dark, his voice growing deep, "I saw them as they slapped her, laughed at her, spit in her face, and turn her and my home into nothing but ashes."

"Because of your ability to see ghost?" Her eyes were soft, dark with knowing. Hao sways close. For a moment she forgot he was like a stranger, a mystery, because the regretand uncertainty in his dark gaze suddenly felt like a mirror, a hard reflection of her own emotions. She not feel sorry for him.

"Because of my gift. They couldn't handle it. The villager had said we were demons and got someone to get rid of us. They accomplished that task with my mother only...after i saw it with my own eyes, the villagers though that their children had killed me, not knowing that I watched from bushes. They left and I ran, ran to a place I knew ghost and demons gathered together. I made a friend there. Later made him disappear with the oversoul I used to kill the so called monk who murdered my mother. Then I was taken in by some Onmyoujis, started my life over there. But it was the same result. Humans think what we are...is unnatural."

"We speak with the dead," Annaka said, feeling a strong urge, a need, to comfort him. "We do what humans wished they could do, it is why they invent stories of heroes of the supernatural, they are simply jealous of us."

""Maybe." Hao turned away. "But jealousy hurts, Annaka. Jealousy makes people want to lock you up or kill you." he couldn't keep the bitterness from his voice. She acknowledged it.

"You dwell in bitterness."

"Bitterness?" Annaka forced herself to look into his eyes. It was difficult; his gaze was too far-seeing, "What do you expect, Annaka? Yes, I have power. Yes, I am proud of that. I wouldn't change a thing. But has my…my gift brought me happiness? Real happiness? No. Only… isolation. Loneliness. I don't call that a prize."

Annaka stretched out her hand. Hao did not flinch. She touched his shoulder, fingers trailing up, up, up to his hair. She skimmed the fine dark strands. Hao closed his eyes.

Before she noticed, Annaka buried her fingers in his hair, fingertips floating just above his scalp. She kneaded, tugged, a light massage of ethereal proportions, and Hao let out a sigh that sounded like the low last breath of a dying man. He stepped close, eyes still closed. He kissed the warm crown of her head. Then his warm, and impossibly large, palms drifted up, slow, and Annaka found it so difficult not to touch his skin, to bring her lips down upon his brow, his closed eyes, his mouth, but she knew better.

She was not used to being touched. She like it. Which was dangerous, stupid. She was a death sentence for all men. Literally.

She was the Shaman Queen, the one engaged to the future Messiah of the world...she had to resist.

She tried to pull away, but felt two arms wrapped themselves around her waist. Hao opened his eyes. Very slowly, exquisitely so, he stood. There was no room for him; Annaka had been pulled so close already that the only way for him to rise was to slide up against her body, inch by slow inch. His hands never lost their grip on her waist. "It seems...that I have come to fancy you, Annaka," The corner of his mouth curved ever so slightly, but that was no consolation, because his eyes would not stop looking at her, not even to blink.

Her palms became sweaty, and there is a low warm ache in her stomach that has been growing ever since they got into the carriage together. His stare made it worse, made her scared and hungry for something she knew she should not have—or contemplate. Her cheeks become warm. She looks away, but when she looks to steal another glance he is still watching her, and it is too much. His eyes are too gentle. "Stop." Her voice breaks on that word. "Please." she begged silently, not looking him in the eyes. Hao found himself unable to conceal the smirk that formed on his lips, he let go of her and sat back down to his side of the carriage, not looking at her.

The carriage gave a jolt and a sudden stop, both of them heard the carriage driver knocking against the top of the carriage; Hao looked at Annaka, "This is where you get off, Miss Annaka."

She nodded and stood up, she made her way off the carriage and touch the ground when she felt a hard hand grab her wrist, she jerked around, her red eyed narrowed themselves as she looked into his eyes, and Hao wondered what she saw in his eyes, whether his desire was so transparent. He found he did not care if she knew how much he wanted her. Shame had left him long ago.

Before she could protest, he wrapped one large hand around the back of her neck and pressed his lips to hers. His kiss was fire. Slow and hard, grinding her so close to the edge of pleasure she almost came apart in his arms. Warmth poured through her body, pure sunlight in her bones. Hao's breathing was ragged, he swallowed hard. He had never tasted anything so wondrous, drank in the scent and flavor of the woman. He wondered if he would ever let go, if he would be able to stop.

But he did stop, with great difficulty, and, and when Hao finally broke off the kiss it Annaka pulled herself away. Her eyes were wide, lips swollen with his kisses, her breathing ragged as a spring storm. Hao's heart pounded, blood rushing down, down, though there was enough left to heat his face.

"You're a spoiled child, Asakura," she whispered, brushing her fingertips against her lips.

Hao looked at her, saw Ultimo running up to the carriage behind her, a smirk appeared on his face and he sat down, "I may be a spoiled child, but its your fault." With that he signaled the driver to go and then closed the door to the carriage as it pulled away.

Annaka was still standing where she was when Ultimo ran up beside her, "Annaka-sama! Are you okay?" The Shaman Queen did not answer and simply stood there for a while, she could still feel Hao's lips pressing against hers, she could still feel that fire run through her veins as if it were a forest. Ultimo's eyes grew as he watched her movements, "Annaka-sama...did Asakura Hao...kiss you?"

A grim feminine voice spoke behind Annaka, "He _what_?" asked Joan, suddenly appearing by her sister's side, her red eyes narrowing themselves, "Annaka...?"

Annaka's eyes followed the carriage and realization hit her, Asakura Hao had just _kissed _her...and died.

**...**

Annai had been sitting on the edge of the porch, sipping tea and waiting for Lysander to stop vomiting on the grass, when she began to feel something dripping down her cheeks slowly. She brushed her cheeks with her fingertips, felt liquid, she brought her fingers to her lips. Salty. Tears, she was crying. She brushed them away with her sleeve but more kept coming. She knew the source of this. Another part of her was grieving, a part that was far.

By the time Hao's carriage came forth on the residence, Annai had managed to stop her tears, stop the feelings from the heart of the other person that could not express it in her state. Annai could not see anything. She was blind after all, but her ears were great. She heard Arisu run to the carriage and she heard her when her scream cut through the air, sending all the others on the residence towards the carriage, the sound of their breathing rugged, their feet running hard through the grass. She heard Lysander, who had finally found his stomach devoid of vomit, along with the others, "What happened? What's wrong with Hao-sama?"

Wilhemina and Emmetto brought Hao into the room just as soon as Tamao appeared running up the stairs. She stared as Wilhemina and Emmetto set him down on a futon, his body was limp and she could not see his chest rising for any form of breathing. Tamao felt herself go cold, she walked up to his body and shoved the other two out of the way, she stared at Hao's pale body even closer, as if she could find any sign of life at all. When she didn't her jaw tightened, "Everybody. Out." she hissed.

The Chinese red head blinked, "What?"

"EVERYBODY GET THE DAMN OUT OF THIS ROOM!" Nobody dared to disobey her. Annai remained in her seated position as the others left the room. The pink haired shaman shut the door behind them and left herself with Hao, her eyes grew cold.

"Bastard." she stated coldly, "You kissed her." Visions of death haunted Tamao since Hao had brought that woman, it was a fatal caress upon her mind. Hao's anguished face had filled her thoughts, and all she could see now was someone's death resting right in front of her. She had trouble closing her eyes, this sort of thing really pissed her off. "Now I'm the one that has to save your cheating ass."

Tamao stepped away from Hao, and brought out a knife from her pocket, before she had any second thoughts, she plunged the knife into her arm, hilt deep. Blood began spewing from it, a measly drop falling on Hao, the others staining the floor. The blood began to move on the floor in a circular paradigm, a large, gaping hole was surfacing below it, as if the blood was an acid that made the ground seem to be melting. Deep malicious laughter filled the area, and Tamao found herself sinking down into hell's mouth.

It swallowed her whole and spit her out in no other place then Hell itself.

"I am here to see Enma Daioh," Tamao said. The naka-oni stared at her, silent and expressionless. Typical. Such treatment was a good way to intimidate someone who did not really mean business. Unfortunately for these naka-oni, Tamao was quite serious about wanting to see her boss. She began to walk between them. They placed hands on her shoulder and Tanai touched their shoulders and she looked into their eyes, one oni to the other, and said, "I'm sure you two enjoy your positions here do you not? Well allow me to say that I can make you both go down to the most damned part of this place where you two will be incinerated and your spirits will wander in nothing more than a blazing inferno. If you do not believe me. Test. Me."

Their hands flew off her body. She saw the fear in their eyes and savored it as just one more moment of life. The oni on her right knocked on the gate door. Tamao heard a familiar voice from within. She did not wait for anyone to give permission. She brushed past the onis, opened the ornate wooden gate door, and entered the large throne room.

Enma Daioh was alone, sitting on a large throne made of harsh red rock. The air in the place was dark, smoky, much like the King of Hell himself, he was tough like a leather strap, his eyes like pin-holes, and when he saw Tamao he straightened slowly, bones cracking in his knees and back.

"So, you return." His voice was low, rough from years of living in the fiery kingdom. "I thought I would see you again, though much sooner. I expected you to come crawling back to me. I am oddly unpleased that it did not happen." He looked at the Oni behind Tamao and said, "Leave." The Onis began making their way back out the door, before closing it behind them they stole a look to Tamao who glared at their disgusting figures. The Oni shivered and slammed the door shut.

Enma Daioh said, "You must have scared my Onis for them to let you in here. You must have scared them more than I scare them. How did you do that, Rose?"

"You forget I used to be one of the four kings of hell."

"Yes, I did." Enma Daioh sighed. "The Queen of Demons, making a deal with Mephistophele to go and chase after a mortal Onmyoji. Isanami has not done even ten percent of the amazing work you did." He peered into Tamao's face. "And what of you? I sent several low class demons to stalk you, you know. I never discovered what happened, except that I was sure you were not dead."

"I found other work," Tamao said coldly. As she looked at Enma Daioh, all she could do was glare at him, the king of hell had sort of a fancy of her and it disturbed her for millions of years. "And now I am here on business."

Enma Daioh's smile was cold, mirthless. "My, I had a hunch you didn't just come hear to give me a pleasant visit." he licked his lips.

Tamao's face didn't falter, her pink orbs stared calmly into the eyes the greatest of the four kings of hell. "As always you are right, Daioh, this regards Asakura Hao."

Enma wrinkled his face in disgust, making a strangled sound low in his throat."I hope you made it quick," he said bitterly, "I do not find him pleasant since you came to me 500 years ago asking to reincarnate yourself in the body of a shaman to follow him in this life time. What happened this time? Your demons affecting him too?"

"He's dead, Daioh."

"Sorry to hear that, Rose."

"You lie."

"I do."

Tamao rolled her eyes, having to deal with her boss was difficult, she suddenly remembered the reason why she thought Hao was a more appropriate man. "I want you to revive him."

Enma sat back on his throne and began playing with the edge of his beard, "You know quite well that if you want a wish to be granted then Mephistopheles is the one you should talk to. Besides why would _I _want to revive him? If he's down here that means you'd want to be here as well. And personally, I'd rather have you reak your havocs here."

"Mephistopheles will grant people wishes, yes, but he will find a loophole in the contract and take their souls. You should know this yourself, you underestimate my knowledge. May I remind you that I was there when he did this with Faust I?"

The King of Hell closed his eyes and rubbed the crease in his eyebrows, "You never change, Rose. But I still see no reason to-"

"-I've found the Shaman Queen, Daioh. Hao kissed her, that's why he's pushing up daisies."

Enma froze, a sick devious grin emerging on his features, his eyes glittering in greed, "The Shaman Queen." he whispered, as if the very sound of the name held the presence of the Great Spirit, "The Shaman Queen is the temple of the Great Spirits. Shes the Holy of Holies, the temple that holds the ark of the covenant. Metaphorically speaking that is. You're positive you've found her?"

Tamao nodded, suddenly becoming interested in her fingernails as she spoke, "You try to enter the Holy of Holies without being a pure man and Kami strikes you down. Asakura Hao is not yet Shaman King but he kissed her, Kami ended his life."

Enma Daioh leaned back against his throne, folding his hands over his round stomach. Nearby flames of fire softened his face until he looked almost grandfatherly. A patient man. A hushed man. "So, what does this have to do with Asakura Hao?"

"The Shaman Queen," she murmured, "seems to be attracted to Asakura."

The King of Hell's eyes grew, his brows shot up when he noticed the serious bitterness of the girl's tone, letting him know she was not lying to him. "_Attracted _to Asakura Hao." Tamao nodded. "This could mean one of two things. Asakura Hao is to be the Shaman King or the girl is flawed."

Tamao hesitated, "Either of the two could be right. But I want to make a deal with you. Revive Asakura and I'll be sure to use him as bait for the Shaman Queen, once she gets too close to him she'll lose her immortality. I'll go in and kill her when this happens. Giving the man up there" -she pointed upward- "a disadvantage."

"Impressive," the King of Hell said, coming down from his throne, he reached out and patted his Rose on the head. "Good girl. What a fine pet you've made. Perhaps that deal with Mephistopheles did some good. But I'm still not convinced." Anger flashed on Tamao's face, but she retained her anger, she had no choice. "Let me add something to this. If you fail, when you die your memories will be in my hands while your reincarnating body would be born with nothing but a personality opposite of yours. Yes your reincarnation will maintain the physical appearance you have now, but you will have no memories of your love for Asakura. And if your reincarnation just so happens to run into Hao...I'll make it so that he'll never love you." As he finished he smiled, and it was eerie the way he never looked at the others. It was as though he _wanted _her to give up on Asakura and stay with him.

But the girl was not so easily manipulated.

"I'll take your deal," she spoke up, not an ounce of hesitation in her voice, and here she leaned forward, smiling softly, so cruel, "I won't regret chasing after Asakura."

He did not trust her acquiescence—she could see it in his eyes—but he respected her enough not to challenge her motives. "So you say, Rose. So you say."

* * *

**Shinra Private Academy**

The clouds glided softly across the skies as golden rays illuminated a path above the horizon, revealing the sun's trudge upon the dome of blue. The streets of Tokyo did not rest silently as who would throw silence at the city and its people? The campus of Shinra Private Academy was the only thing along the streets that was restful, yet the school awoke as the sound of the final bell sprung forth and echoed its voice in every hallway and classroom. Students stuffed and shoved books into lockers, friends met up with one another while leaving, making plans, ready to be anywhere besides where they were.

Tamao was among those making their way past that front gate, but unlike the majority of her classmates she didn't want to leave, for she would have nothing to do once she got to Funbari Inn. She wished to be inside where the others were, where they were discussing of her precious Yoh-sama. She stopped in her tracks, making several students behind her run into her or nudge their shoulder against hers. Tamao didn't care, she decided. She wasn't going to leave yet.

With a sudden turn of her heels she began to walk opposite of the current traffic movement of the Shinra students. Once she made it passed the large crowd she made her weight to the back of the school in silence. At this hour the back of the campus was silent, a complete antonym to how it was on the other side. It was so quiet that Tamao could hear her feet crush pebbles and granite while walking through the club fields.

The rosy tresses of the girl wavered as the wind soothingly blew through it with a simple breeze. A frown was placed upon her face as she laid back against the hollow tree looking out to the horizon. Her eyes watched as the wind blew dust and pebbles onto the black cement that was the track field. Her precious Yoh-sama had been running on that same field the day before the he left for America. She remembered his last school day to be on the day of the Sports Festival...

Yes.

She remembered...

_"I don't believe it...YOH-KUN WAKE UP!"_

_Yoh opened his right eye to look up at his screaming vertically challenged friend, who was frantically pointing as Yoh laid down on the grass beside him. He smiled at his friend's habit to over exaggerate things out of proportion. "Yoh-kun, Yoh-kun! A-Anna-s-san i-is! DAMMIT LOOK WILL YA?"_

_Yoh sighed and sat up, rubbing his drowsy eyes as he did so, "What's this about Anna?" he asked lazily, for the brunette still found both his energy and vision to be as if he were asleep. He looked to where Manta pointed and saw Anna on the track field, or at least he caught a glimpse of her. He tried to follow her swift moving figure, but it took a bit of time before his eyes escaped from their semi-purblind state._

_Once his blurry vision was gone, the brunette noticed Anna's golden locks to be shot back by a large amount of forced wind cause by her body cutting through the air as if she were light traveling through an empty vacuum. He blinked finding it hard for his eyes to keep up with her, her body soared several times into the air over constant white figures before the soles of her feet touched earth once more. Yoh found himself impressed at how his fiancée never skipped a beat or lost rhythm in her run, it was really something._

_He crossed his legs on the grass and propped his elbow in his knee, placing his chin on the palm of his hand. He gave a boyish grin and found himself chuckling, "She's fast!" he laughed, turning to his friend, "You think she trains in secret?"_

_Manta smacked him upside the head, "That's not the point!"_

_Yoh rubbed his injured head, "ANNA-SAN IS DOING WORK! DOES THAT NOT SEEM WEIRD TO YOU IN ANY WAY?_

_"No -OW!"_

_Amidamaru watched the two in amusement. How nice it was for his young master to have friends when his childhood had been one of bullying and loneliness. The connection between Manta and Yoh was good, almost unbreakable at this point, Amidamaru knew since the incident with Faust VIII._

_"Ano..." All three heads turned to face a very diffident pink haired girl in her gym clothes, she trembled as if she were about to get mugged rather than to simply talk to her friends. "Ano...Yoh-sama...Anna-sama doing this...is because of me. I feel guilty because-"_

_Yoh stopped her by raising a hand, he gave her a friendly smile, "Don't worry about it Tamao. Anna doesn't do things she doesn't want to. All we have to do for now is cheer her on." the brunette ran to where the patches of grass ended and took a deep breath, cupping his hands around his mouth as he screamed, "ANNA YOU CAN DO IT!"_

_He noticed Anna lose a bit of her rhythm but regained it after a second, her head turn and she caught a glimpse at Yoh happily waving at her. The blonde found herself smiling as she looked away, a small pink stain appearing on her cheeks._

_Tamao noticed this and felt her stomach turn, she grabbed Yoh by the arm and began pulling him away, "Y-Yoh-sama, your event is next!" she stuttered, "I made you a bento so you can run on a healthy stomach!" with that she dragged Yoh to the far side of the school building._

_"Amazing." mused a voice from the judges corner, the voice belonging to a girl who was looking out through some binoculars, her sight set on Anna and Yoh. The girl pulled the binoculars away from her eyes, the sun touching them and making the scene of the sky in her blue orbs, her hair was a cascade of green that was tied in a high ponytail, yet it reached to her knees, her skin was rather tan compared to that of a boy's beside her. On her white gym shirt there was a button that said "Hisho" or Secretary, and the blue haired bishie beside her had one that said, "Fuku Kaichou" or Vice President._

_The Hisho of Shinra Private academy took one last look from Yoh's leaving figure to Anna's running one and nodded, "As I thought something is going on between those two."_

_"I'll tell you what's going on between the two!" A voice announced along with the presence of a tall six foot lean boy with long white hair and glasses, his tag that had written "Kaichou" shined as the sun's rays touched it, he pointed a finger towards Yoh, "That Asakura Yoh is stalking my beloved Kyoyama Anna-chan!" -The Hisho and Fuku Kaichou sweat dropped- "That is why I, The Student Council President of Shinra Academy, have decided to deal with Asakura by confessing my love to Kyoyama-chan in the borrowing race!"_

_The Hisho rolled her eyes as her boss went on in his plan, she suddenly became very interested in her nails as the Kaichou's voice grew louder, "MY plan is simple! In the borrowing race there is always a slip of paper that makes a lucky individual have to go and borrow the person he/she loves. This year, to make sure I am the one who gets something to confess my love to Kyoyama-chan, I have made all the slips say to borrow someone you love/like. Or something around that area. This way I will go and ask Kyoyama-chan to go out with me! She will say yes and Asakura Yoh will have to leave her alone! HAHA! I'm a genius!"_

_The Fuku Kaichou looked at the Hisho and whispered in her ear, "Ano, if it's like that, I don't want to take part in the borrowing race. Can I find someone to replace me?"_

_The Hisho nodded, her eyes watching Anna as she came back from the track field. The blonde had won the Obstacle Race for her class and was now making her way to Manta, then she noticed Yoh's absence, she felt a vein pop on her temple, "Where is he?" he asked the short midget and the 600 year old spirit._

_Manta looked at Amidamaru and the two turned to look at Anna, Manta was the one to respond, "Tamao took him. We don't really know where."_

_"I see." Anna said, she turned and grabbed a small_

_The spirit did what he was told. Manta looked at the two in curiosity. wanting to ask where the two were going, but instead decided to turn his attention back to the sports festival._

_"Wow Tamao this is really good!" Yoh complemented as he stuffed another eggroll into his mouth, not bothering to even chew it before swallowing and chugging down some rice._

_Tamao blushed as she watched him eat. The fact he liked her cooking so much made her heart jump and pound loudly against her chest. She took a deep breath, ready to do what she brought him out here for. "Ano...Yoh-sama."_

_Yoh stopped eating and looked at her, his gaze innocent and boyish, yet making her blush even more and stutter in embarrassment._

_"Ano, Yoh-sama, I've been meaning to ask you something." 'Say it' her mind continued to pursuade her. She had to ask. She wanted to. For long years Tamao had been watching him from afar. Admiring his courage, his laid back nature that made everyone else's affliction leave them just by seeing his smile. In time it was no longer admirition that made the pink haired shaman look at the Asakura boy but a certain feeling that made her think of warmth. That's when she decided she too would try her best. But in order to become his fiance._

_The Anna came in the picture. Tamao remembered seeing her for the first time. Golden hair, pale skin, amber eyes that could see right through you, and a certain beauty, an elegant grace that Tamao could never have. She remembered Yoh's face when he saw her for his second time, right there in the Asakura residence. He stopped what he was doing and stared at her for the longest time and whispered her name in disbelief, his face had grown color and he gave a sheepish and embarrassed grin that was one hundred persent honest and pure._

_...and it had broken Tamao's heart. So knowing the large gap between her and Anna what was it that this girl had to ask Yoh?_

_Simple. "Do you...love Anna-sama?"_

_Yoh choked on his egg roll. His face grew red, but not from nearly dying. "W-what?" he asked after gaining his ability to swallow._

_"I've s-seen the way you look at Anna-sama," she spatted taken aback by his blushing face, wondering if she really wanted to hear his answer, "Since she arrived, Yoh-sama has been acting differently…towards me at least...You once said that you enjoyed spending time with me, that you liked to get away from Anna-sama's harsh training and go grocery shopping with me! B-but I've seen a change in the way you look at Anna-sama a-and never looked at me like that so I've come to think you don't like me...!" she closed her eyes, as if waiting for a slap to her heart._

_"I like you Tamao."_

_She opened her eyes, saw his smiling face and felt her heart jump._

_Yoh gave her a smile. Had he been treating his friends differently lately? He had been thinking a lot about Anna. His grandfather had called before asking if his relationship with her was good._

_Yoh had said yes. Things hadn't changed between him and Anna. He still had those same feeling he had felt as a ten year old boy._

_"Have those feelings grown any stronger?" Yoh asked what he meant. Yohmei sighed, "When you look at Anna or think of her, what do you feel?"_

_Yoh had thought of her in that moment. Her golden locks spread against her pillow when she slept, her pale, slender figure as she watched her soaps, her dress not helping to hide the way her hips curved...Yoh found his face growing hot, his heart began beating rapidly at his chest, he placed a hand to his chest, clutching his shirt in hope that it would stop its speeding. Yohmei smiled knowingly. "I see," he mused slowly. Yoh looked up at him in confusion, Yohmei chuckled silently deep in his throat, "You love Anna even more then you did Yoh. Much, much more."_

_Yoh recalled this moment with his grandfather and blushed as he remembered the rest of the conversation, it had been a long one, which had involved the topic of babies..._

_Tamao noticed the change of his skin color and thought that he had just realized the meaning of his words and felt embarrassed. In her unknown misunderstanding she inched closer, her face gaining color as well, she felt the words she wanted to say right at the tip of her tongue, she bit back her fear, determined, "Yoh-sama the truth is I've really always-"_

_"-Asakura-kun! He's over here you guys!" Tamao jumped away and created a distance between their bodies at the sound of one of their schoolmates, several other students appeared, all females. One of the girls, black haired and rather large at the chest, walked over to Yoh grabbing him by the wrist and forcing him up, her curls bouncing as she did so. "Asakura-kun, your race is about to start how could you possible be eating now?" Yoh blinked as two other girls began pushing him towards the the corner. One of them, with short shoulder-length periwinkle hair, began to shove with her whole body._

_"Hurry, Sensei is rather mad-"_

_**"ASAKURA YOH! THIS IS YOUR HOMEROOM TEACHER" **You could hear over the school's intercom **"GET YOUR ASS TO THE TRACK FIELD THIS INSTANT!" **at hearing this, Yoh stopped and turned to look at Tamao, who sat on the floor, her face rather pale. He figured his homeroom teacher's language shocked her._

_"Tamao I have to go. Save the left overs please!" he called as he began to run towards the field. He made it past the corner when he saw a blur of blonde, he stopped and saw Anna leaning against the wall, her head down and both of her hands curled into tight fists. She was shaking..._

_"Anna...?"_

_"The nerve..." she whispered loud enough for him to hear, she jerked her head up to look at him, her eyes glassy and her cheeks flushed in anger, "you actually have the nerve..."_

_Yoh blinked and took a step forward, reaching out a hand to touch her, "Anna, what are you talking abou-"_

_"DON'T LIE TO ME ASAKURA!" she shouted, her hand iching to slap him, "I heard everything." she spat through gritted teeth, one of her hands rose to clutch the fabric of her shirt in the area above her heart as it began to burn within her chest. She lowered her head, "You...like Tamao."_

_The wind rustled through the trees stirring fallen leaves as the words left her mouth; Yoh blinked, suddenly rather confused. "Why are you angry?" He looked at her, stared, trying to find an answer within her expression._

_Anna did not reply; she narrowed her eyes, looking at the brunnette with such intensity he could feel her gaze almost as a touch, right down to his aching heart. Her gaze was pure fire, her mouth twisted in disgust. Something in her snapped—a piece of her heart, tearing right out of her chest—she took a step forward and whipped her hand across his cheek. The sound of the impact echoed._

_The brunette boy found himself on the floor within seconds of the impact, the force of Anna's slap had sent him to the ground, knocking off his headphones. He cupped his swollen cheek and looked at her wide-eyed. He saw her as she grabbed her hand and once more clutched at that area above her heart, but she glared at him, so deep in anger that he felt his heart sink. Yoh dropped his hand slowly from its position over his swollen cheek and looked away from her to stare at the wall. "I don't understand you, Anna."_

_"What is there to understand?" she asked bitterly, a lump forming at her throat, "I hate you," —Yoh's head shot up to look at her, noticing the stain of red on her cheeks—"If for one moment I've have thought otherwise, I find myself an idiot to ever love you."_

_Yoh stood up as she turned her gaze to look right into his eyes. They were sorrowful, a chocolate that was melting under the painful fire that harmed it; he took a few steps towards her, his right cheek still burning, he stopped, "You don't hate me Anna..."_

_Her breath caught, her body stilled. Guilt rumbled through her eyes, which he instantly noticed. He did nothing to acknowledge it. Just held her gaze. She didn't respond, and the silence was unbearable. He searched her face with a desperate expression and was unable to repress the tears that were beginning to fill his eyes. Anna's eyes were indescribable, and she stood silently in front of him without breaking their gaze. Her heart was pounding loudly against her chest, it screamed to her, telling her that her hesitation was the reason she was losing him to begin with. She did not listen, "Leave, Yoh."_

_His heart pounded a triple beat, inhuman; quick and strong, so hard his chest burned in agony from the pain of it. "Anna it's not what you think."_

_"Then what is it Yoh?" she began to shout, finding herself turning bitter by the second, "Explain why. Why is it that you saved me at that moment from that Oni? Why? It's not love obviously! You never once told me that you loved me, liked me even! Explain to me Asakura Yoh!"_

_Yoh hesitated. How was he to explain that for the longest time he knew that in the Shaman Fight there would be a large possibility of his death? He wanted to tell her, he wanted to kiss her, hold her so tightly that his heart could burst. But he couldn't. Not knowing that tomorrow he could be leaving for his funeral. "It is complicated."_

_She became bitter, "Of course it is." She began to walk around him, back to the track field. Yoh blocked her, fear and confusion making his throat thick._

_"Anna-"_

_**"ASAKURA YOH, YOUR HOMEROOM TEACHER REQUESTS THAT YOU COME TO THE TRACK FIELD IMMEDIATELY."**_

_**"LIKE HELL I DO! HURRY UP ASAKURA!"**_

_Anna shut her eyes, "Go," she muttered, fighting the compulsion to forgive him for liking another woman. She succeeded—shockingly—but she knew it that feeling of hatred wouldn't be there for much longer. Yoh was still too close. He said her name. She could feel him reaching out to touch her._

_No. No, no, no—_

_"Go!" she screamed. Yoh flinched, and backed away, for one long moment he stared at her, confusion and anger in his eyes._

_**"ASAKURA YOH! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW BEFORE I EXPEL YOU!"**_

_Anna pointed to the the track field, hand shaking; Yoh gave her one last look that made her heart ache, then he left. Amidamaru appeared suddenly beside of Anna, his eyes looking sadly at Anna who simply stood there looking at the dirt on the ground. "Anna-dono—"_

_"Don't speak if you don't want to die twice." Amidamaru shut his mouth._

_There was a second of silence until Anna heard screaming followed by the sound of a slap that was not her own._

_"Kya!" Tamao screamed as her body slammed into the wall, her white gym uniform becoming dirty from the dirt and dust that flew to the air from the impact of her crash. She scrapped her hands, blood slowly flowing from her wounds._

_"Honestly Tamamura, you thought we wouldnt notice what you were up to?" asked the tall senpai with black curls as she grabbed Tamao by the hair and pulled her to her feet. "Do you think we're fools?"_

_Tamao shook her head, "I-I just wanted to give him a b-bento before he raced!" the black haired girl pushed her face to the ground._

_The girls laughed, "You think we're stupid?"_

_Tamao screamed once more as her body slammed against the side of the school, the bricks of the wall scrape her skin through her thin shirt, leaving red stains on her white shirt. Ponchi and Konchi ran to her side, both asking if she was okay, she couldn't respond at the moment. One of the female Senpais stepped close to her and grabbed her by the collar of her t-shirt, ramming her back to the wall. The Senpai glared into Tamao's pink orbs, disgusted black eyes burning holes through fearful pink ones. "You have a lot of nerve, Tamamura," the Senpai acknowledge in disaproval, "You actually dared to get close to Asakura-kun when we gave you a warning the first time."_

_"You fucking bitches, leave Tamao alone!" yelled Ponchi, shaking his fist violently at them._

_"Yeah!" Konchi joined in, "If you don't we're going to rape your asses!" The Senpais couldn't hear them, which was the reason the two spirits continued their verbal abuse and false threats._

_"I-I wasn't making a move on Yoh-sama!" proclaimed Tamao in her defense, shaking, fear striking her heart as if it were a dagger._

_"Yoh-sama?" repeated one of the other girls, her purple eyes showing her disgust as she wrinkled her nose. She stepped closer, "You're taking advantage of Asakura's kindness, you bitch. How dare you call him 'Yoh-sama' if you're nothing to him. Asakura Yoh belongs to everyone!" she raised her hand and slapped Tamao across her face, "Don't try to fucking keep him to yourself!"_

_"Asakura Yoh belongs to everyone? Is that what little girls are telling themselves lately?"_

_"ANNA-SAMA!" Ponchi and Konchi shouted in shock and sudden fear, both running to go and hide behind Tamao._

_The three seniors froze, the one grabbing Tamao's shirt suddenly letting go; Anna stepped around the corner, her arms crossed, she was pissed and the girls could sense it easily. "Care to explain?" she asked referring to the blood on Tamao's wrinkled shirt._

_One of the girls, the one with black curls who had grabbed Tamao's shirt, straightened up, though her body slightly shook, "W-we're not scared of you." she managed to say, as if that could change the fact that she really was scared._

_Anna cocked a brow, "Oh really? So you're not scared of the possibility of people finding out that you're making your breast pads bigger?" she turn to the two other girls, signalling them out with her eyes, "Or that you are an absolute otaku to the point of cosplaying? Or your middle school picture?"_

_The girls grew red, two of them began to slowly back away. The black haired girl glared at Anna for about a minute before Anna rolled her eyes, "It's pointless to think of jumping me or plan revenge. May I remind you that Yoh isn't the only one with followers. If mine found out, we won't be able to recognize your face much longer." A smirk appeared on the blonde's face. Anna wasn't joking._

_The two other Senpais winced in sudden cowardness, the other buried herself in the fact her pride was being hurt, "It's stupid to think you're the secret adoration of the male students at this school. You're think you're so great that you walk with Asakura in the mornings. Taking advantage of his kindness. He doesn't care about you. Can't you see you're a bother to him you-" **SLAP!** The girl fell back, wide-eyed, completely shocked at the sudden agonizing pain on her right cheek. She looked up at Anna, who glared holes into her body back._

_"I'm not in the best mood," she warned the girls, "You've already made me take that stupid bet to take part in the Sports Festival. Do you want me to show you my worth by sending all of you to the hospital?"-the girls shook their heads- Anna narrowed her eyes, a rather violent expression taking over her face, "THEN. LEAVE." she ordered._

_Tamao watched as two girls helped their fallen friend up from the ground and then all three ran the other way, shouting things that she could not quite catch. The pink haired girl's gaze turned to Anna whose back was turned towards her. Ponchi and Konchi, as always, managed to break the comfortable silence that had arrived with the departure of the Senpais._

_"YEAH! THAT'S ANNA-SAMA FOR YOU!"_

_"BITCHES WERE LUCKY! WE WERE ABOUT TO GO AT THEM!"_

_"NEXT TIME WE WON'T BE SO FORGIVING!"_

_Amidamaru sweatdropped at the spirits' large egos, he was about to laugh until he saw a rather dark aura forming around Anna's body, her hand curling into fists so tight that her knuckles were turning white. Her body whisked to look at the two spirits, her eyes were fire, burning hole with their glares. She jerked the two spirits off the ground and slammed them back into the dirt, her foot stepping on their testicles with full force in her heel._

_"AAAAGGHHHHHH!" the spirits screamed in agony. Anna pushed down harder, her eyes enraged._

_"You two actually have the nerve to be shouting threats when you're obviously nothing but useless." Anna spat, pushing down harder with each word that left her mouth. She finally let them have their balls back when they began begging, no, screaming for mercy to the point of tears. She took her foot off and watched as they both ran to Tamao, crying._

_Anna looked at Tamao, looked at the blood on her shirt, "Go to the nurse's. I'll get you to leave early so you can wash those close back at the Inn." Tamao nodded and watch as Anna turned her back on her and didn't look back as she walked away._

_Anna did not want to look at her._

_Manta remained where Anna and Yoh had left him, in the patch of green that surounded the track field. He was with his classmates who were cheering Yoh on, well, not all of them. Some of Manta's male classmates have been gaining ill feelings towards Yoh ever since Anna had entered school, and Manta was not an idiot who could not guess the reason. It was the same reason why the female classmates had ill feelings towards Anna. Both had become a secret affection in school, idols, so to say._

_Manta sighed. Both of his friends had obtained popularity even if one ignored it and one didn't notice it. Anna had noticed it. As long as Yoh didn't acknowledge it, she didn't care._

_Manta decided not to think of Yoh and Anna's relationship. It was a bit above his comprehension skills. Instead Manta decided to watch the race, he began to watch just as soon as a kid in the class passed the baton to Yoh and Yoh ran so fast that Manta's eyes could not keep up and, within seconds, Yoh won._

_The short blonde did not find it hard to believe; Anna's training had made Yoh gain so much strength that he wouldn't be shocked if Yoh could rip out a tree from the ground. Actually it would still surprise Manta, but not as much._

_Yoh made his his way over to Manta. While all the other runner had already been sweating bullets, Yoh was dry, minus the drops of sweat on his forehead._

_Yoh flopped himself on the grass, face first, he remained there and muttered something incomprehensible. Manta blinked and asked him to repeat._

_"Take me out of all of the events," he wined, his face still pressed against the grass, "I don't want to run!"_

_Manta sighed. Yoh was still as lazy as ever, Anna's training didn't cure laziness. "Yoh-kun you don't have any more races to run-"_

_"Good."_

_"-But you have to take part in one last race" Manta finished, "The Fuku Kaichou came and asked if you could cover the borrowing race for him."_

_"The borrowing race?"_

_Manta nodded._

_Yoh groaned, "I don't want to...I lost my motivation."_

_"What happened?"_

_Yoh finally flipped his body so that his face was now facing the sky, he sat up and took in a long sigh, "Anna's mad at me." Manta smacked him with a rock on the head, "OW! What was that for?"_

_Manta shook his head, "Anna-san is always mad at you! What makes this time so different?"_

_"I don't know why she's mad."_

_The midget sighed, his friend was so simple, "What did you do before you ran into her?"_

_"Ate Tamao's bento and talked to Tamao."_

_Manta pondered a bit. Yoh ate Tamao's cooking at the Inn every day. Anna never seemed bothered by it. "What did you talk to Tamao about?" Yoh told him, and instantly Manta realized how dense his best friend truly was. Of course Anna would get mad at Yoh for telling another girl he liked her. But Yoh's like with Tamao was probably on the same level as his like for a sister. Anna misunderstood. He was about to tell Yoh about this but was interrupted when they began calling for the participants of the borrowing race._

_As Manta watched Yoh get in his position to run, Anna suddenly appeared beside him, and, boy, she didn't look too happy. Because of this Manta decided to remain silent, if Anna was as mad as she looked, he'd rather not get on her bad side by getting into her business._

_They both silently watched as the school Hisho explained the rules of the game. Right after the rules were explained, someone yelled, "Go!" and the competitors threw themselves into a run towards a table at the end of the field._

_Anna watched carefully; Yoh was the first one to the table. She wasn't surprised; her special training course was flawless._

_Yoh picked up the slip of paper and read it. Manta saw the brunettes body suddenly stiffen and his skin rise in color. While he stood there the school's Student Council President darted past him and yanked a paper off the table. The idiot did not even glance at his paper and broke into a run...towards Manta and Anna...?_

_The short blonde blinked as the President stopped, just several feet away from them; his eyes were set on Anna._

_Anna raised a brow as the President got on one knee, she already thought him to be disgusting with just that one gesture. She looked at Yoh who was still staring at his paper, red as a beat._

_The President got off his knee, it was his way of showing respect to the lady, he held out his hand as he spoke to her, his voice loud, booming in an exaggerated manner that made him seem dramatic, "Kyoyama Anna! You're beauty as a breathtaking flower has stunned my eyes. The beauty you obtain far surpasses that of those around you. So in this moment I ask you to use your beauty to help me win this race!" while the boy spoke Manta noticed several other boys from other classes crowd around Anna, asking her to go with them to the finish line instead. Eventually all the participants of the race wanted to 'borrow' Anna_

_The short blonde blinked as the President stopped, just several feet away from them; his eyes were set on Anna._

_Anna raised a brow as the President got on one knee, she already thought him to be disgusting with just that one gesture. She looked at Yoh who was still staring at his paper, red as a beat._

_The President got off his knee, it was his way of showing respect to the lady, he held out his hand as he spoke to her, his voice loud, booming in an exaggerated manner that made him seem dramatic, "Kyoyama Anna! You're beauty as a breathtaking flower has stunned my eyes. The beauty you obtain far surpasses that of those around you. So in this moment I ask you to use your beauty to help me win this race!" while the boy spoke Manta noticed several other boys from other classes crowd around Anna, asking her to go with them to the finish line instead. Eventually all the participants of the race wanted to 'borrow' Anna_

_Manta dared to look at Anna. The itako stood there, eyes close, arms crossed, a vein becoming visible on her temple. She opened her eyes and flickered her gaze to Yoh, she caught him looking at her, and he watched her, a sort of questioning look on his face. His face reminded Anna of an abandoned pup._

_It caught her off guard and she felt her heart leap. She looked away, focused on the loud idiots in front of her, yelling at her, begging her to go with them._

_She was beginning to think that this wasn't about winning the race. Which pushed her to the edge, "SHUT UP!" she shouted, ordered. The whole field grew silent. Manta flinched, Anna lost it, "All of you just go and die and LEAVE. ME. ALONE."_

_Her tone was so threatening and cold that it didn't surprise Manta when several of the boys began to back away slowly, suddenly becoming cautious. The school president was a different story and Manta's stomach began to feel like puking up breakfast when the Kaichou turned around and pointed at Yoh._

_"Asakura Yoh," he called in his booming voice, "I have had enough of you medaling your way into my future relationship with Kyoyama-Chan! Your stalking of her ends here!"_

_Manta found himself staring at Yoh, he watched closely as Yoh turned his gaze from Anna to the Kaichou. The brunette blinked and scratched the back of his head, giving a clueless grin, "Ano...I have no idea what you're talking about."_

_Manta dropped to the ground, as so did most of the school's viewing students, the midget chuckled the answer was typical Yoh._

_The Kaichou did not find it as humorous, he stood tall, a towering giant over those around him. His eyes shifted to a hard glare, "Your insolence does not work on me, Asakura. Since the first day Kyoyama-Chan arrived you have been following her like a dog! I'd like to know the reason! Why don't you go out and tell her your true intentions of being around her?"_

_Yoh sighed, he had no clue as to why this guy was bothering him, he gave up reasoning with made his way over towards the crowd, it splitting in two as he passed through, "I really have no idea what you're talking about," he added as he walked stopping right in front of the Kaichou, staring him right in his eyes._

_Amidamaru began to shift uncomfortably beside Anna; he did not like the look in the Kaichou's eyes._

_Yoh didn't seem to notice the look he was being given. He just let the Kaichou, and the crowd, watch him as he made his way over to Anna, stretching his hand out towards her, "Come with me?" he asked rather sheepishly._

_Amidamaru's instincts were right, for the Kaichou began to curl his fingers into a ball, ands as soon as the words left Yoh's mouth he pulled back and arm and threw it towards Yoh._

_Manta closed his eyes, waiting for a sound of impact. He heard nothing. He opened his eyes and widened them._

_There stood the Kaichou with his eyes a rather abnormal size, the punch which he had thrown was caught in mid-punch. Anna being the one who caught blonde itako didn't even look like she was using too much force to hold the Kaichou's fist in place. Her body didn't shake nor did she seem regretful. Manta couldn't see her face but he was sure that under that lowered head she was pissed._

_And he was right when he heard her voice grow colder than normal, "I. Told. You. To. Leave." she said through gritted teeth, then without even missing a step, she used her body weight and slung the Kaichou into the ground. His back made the first impact with the ground a loud crack echoed throughout the field. Everyone remained silent._

_Yoh seemed to be the only one unparsed by the whole thing, while everyone stared at Kaichou's fallen body he took the opportunity and grabbed Anna by her hand, pulling her with him as he began walking away from the crowd._

_Anna blinked in surprise but did not protest, which surprised Yoh, yet he continued to pull her towards the judging booth. Once he got there he placed down a sheet of paper and looked at the Hisho. He dragged Anna closer to him and pointed to her, "I win." he said with a given smile._

_The Hisho took the paper and unfolded it, a smirk creeping up her face, her blue eyes twinkling as they went from the paper to Yoh's hand. "Yes. I see you did."_

_The brunette blushed and quickly let go of Anna's hand, not looking at her as the Hisho grabbed the mike and announced the end of the Sports Festival, "**THE SPORTS FESTIVAL IS NOW AT AN END. ALL MALES AND FEMALES PLEASE GO TO THE SHOWERS THEN REPORT TO YOUR HOMEROOM.**" Anna looked at Yoh and found him finally looking at her, his expression looked rather saddened, she felt her heart sink._

_Yoh forced himself to smile at her and gave her a quick nod before turning away and walking towards the school. Anna watched him go until he disappeared inside, then she turned to the Hisho and held out her hand, "Let me see that paper," she ordered._

_The Hisho gave her a knowing look that appeared rather smug, yet she handed over the paper._

_Anna felt her hands grow sweaty as she reached for the folded paper, her heart began to pound hard when the paper made it to her hand. The paper was only a small square folded in half, so in the second she decided to look, she opened it and almost let the paper drop when her eyes read "THE GIRL YOU LOVE" in huge block letters._

_"Seems like a confession, doesn't it?" mention the Hisho as she suddenly appeared over Anna's shoulder, reading._  
_It did and it didn't make any sense. A few minutes ago she had heard him tell Tamao that he liked her. Now he chooses her for the borrowing race, she being under his "love" category?_

_Anna rolled one of her hands into a fist, the confusion that was in her turned into sudden rage, "What. The. Hell." Hisho heard her ask before the blonde turned on her heels and began walking towards the building, a dark aura surrounding her._

_The itako was pissed. What kind of joke was Yoh trying to play on her? She pushed several people out of her way as she thought about what the hell was going on. Once she was inside the building she didn't stop walking till she made it to the corner in front of the boys' locker rooms, she saw Manta leave the room and disappear down the hall. He and Yoh were always the last ones to change, meaning Manta decided not to wait on Yoh, in other words Yoh would be in there alone._

_She didn't hesitate to enter, she was still pissed so she slammed the door opened and it slammed shut behind her, she didn't care._

_She noticed her stupid fiancé in the corner of the room, in front of his locker, his back was to her. Oh and he was naked. He was using a towel to dry off his hair, Anna noticed his headphones were on his ears, and she could hear his music on full volume. He didn't even notice her there._

_By the time Anna began to walk across the locker room, Yoh began to wrap the towel around his waist to cover his lower area. He bent down to dig into his gym bag for clothes, while "Soul Bob" blasted in his ears, then he felt his headphones being snatched off his head, "Hey!" he shouted as he turned and was faced to face with a piece of paper with familiar writing on it. He looked pass the paper and saw Anna, glaring bullets at him, her eyes dark from the shadow that her bangs made around her face._

_"What the hell is this Asakura?" she asked, Yoh immediately noticing how cold her tone was. Yoh blinked, not really understanding the question._

_"Um...a sheet of paper?"_

_Anna slammed her hand onto his shoulder and pushed his body against his locker, his wet body now wetting her uniform from the small distance between them when she moved closer. She didn't seem to care, "Obviously it is, but what's the meaning of you 'borrowing' me for the category on this paper?"_

_Yoh found himself blushing, he moved his gaze away from her eyes, "You weren't supposed to see what it said." he mumbled, rather embarrassed. He felt her move closer, so close that only her shirt was what kept their bare skin from touching. Yoh felt his temperature rise, "Anna..." he whispered, his voice wavering, "You're too close."_

_"Does it bother you?" He continued to turn his gaze from her, Anna narrowed her eyes, "I see...you were playing with me all along."_

_Yoh blinked and yanked his head to look at her as she pushed herself away from him_

_Yoh touched her shoulder, but she shrugged him off. He tried touching her waist, "Anna..." she batted his hand away. Panic swelled. As did he grabbed her the third time, he did not let her push him aside. He held on tight, pulling her hard against his chest. Warm and small. Muscles corded his lean arms-sooner or later to be a killing strength, Anna knew- and the heat of his naked torso washed over her shoulders, making her cheeks red. "Anna, tell me what's wrong." Yoh asked, and Anna jumped slightly, startled by his voice, which was both soft and hard, loud in its quiet._

_Anna looked away from those eyes, those warm eyes that were begging, she felt her voice crack as she whispered, "You...don't...love me..."_

_he replied, but before she could say another word he closed the space between them and touched her cheek. The contact was unexpected, as was the spark—a shock of electricity from his fingers. He stared, and in a ragged voice whispered, "Anna..."_

_The sound of her name in that tone startled something in her chest, and before she noticed it her hand whisked itself across his cheek. Yoh stood staring, his hand automatically cupped his cheek, his heart racing faster than the thoughts flitting through his mind, the sorrow in his eyes was immediate, raw; a shocking revelation of emotion. His usually cheerful face grim as death. Anna could not find words to speak. Guilt spread through her body as it turned on its own and she began walking away when she heard him speak._

_"'I have begun to love this man'."_

_She stopped walking as he continued, "Do you remember those words, Anna?" she shifted her body her right to look at him, the words struck her heart they struck it as if were effortless as breathing. Yoh stared at her, his eyes warm, as if they were melting into her. He was waiting, waiting patiently for her to respond. She said nothing. She had no words, no reason. He stared at her like she was a puzzle, and Anna felt like one. He stepped closer, pressing so close she could see herself reflected in his chocolate eyes. Anna closed her eyes, wondering what kind of mess it would make if her heart exploded from her chest; the pounding rattled her ribs. "Do you?" he asked, his voice so close, Anna bit back some tears and opened her eyes. Before she could say another word he closed the space between them and touched her cheek. The contact was unexpected, as was the spark, a shock of electricity from his breath caught and it was because of that touch that she gave a brief nod, turning her face away from his._

_"Good." was all he said, almost in relief. Anna jerked her head to look at him as the heat of his body began to leave her skin, he gave her a gentle smile then dragged his gaze from her face, and turned on his heel, and walked towards his locker, his face was so intense, so pained with sadness that it instantly repelled her, as though her mind and heart simply could not take the force of his gaze. Anna without realizing reached out and grabbed him by his arm, Yoh flinched in surprise of the sudden contact, Anna flinched as she felt a dry area over his smooth skin. Her heart sank._

_It was those scars... _

_Those incomprehensible slashes dipped into his skin like grotesque canyons. Guilt spread through the itako's body as she recalled the cause of the scars, their origins, and how their effect had made her say to him and that Oni her feelings for the first time. Her eyes felt far too hot. She tried not to blink, afraid she would betray her itako-upbringing with tears. But she found herself stepping closer, tracing the deep grooves with her fingertips, spreading her hands against his skin, touching that she had caused. _

_Yoh made a small sound. A faint flush stained his cheeks, her touch was soft and gentle, a strange tingling rippled up his back, lifting the hairs on his back. Heat filled his chest, his heart thudded dully, loud and coarse, but it began accelerating making him feel his heart about to leave his chest from the rapidness of its beating._

_"'I have begun to love this man'" she repeated, a soft whisper right in his ear, "I'm sorry if those words have been troublesome to you." The beating stopped but his heart gave a jolt. His body turned around to look at her, her amber eyes were looking away from him, she had let him go and was now moving towards the door._

_She heard him move, but then was startled when she his hand grab her wrist, pulling her onto his chest, his two strong arms wrapping themselves around her waist, the mess of his wet brunette hair resting itself on her shoulder, so close that she could feel the owner's breath on her neck. "Those words made me really happy." he whispered, his lips so close to the nape of her neck that she could practically feel him grinning. Some strange energy began humming against her chest and her cheeks grew red. His body was practically on hers, his chest leaving no room between hers, allowing her to feel the years of his training over her body. She felt his grip tighten but yet he did it carefully, making sure not to crush her. "Heh heh, this is embarrassing," he commented, raising his head to meet her gaze with a full grin and a red face, "This time we don't have a sliding door to hide us, huh?" he chuckled._

_Anna tried her hardest not to smile. "Idiot." she muttered as he loosened his grip around her body._

_The itako still had more to tell him, and she wanted more than just a tight embrace from him. She watched him as he got his shirt and placed his arms through it. She knew what she wanted, and she felt rather guilty, she wanted to have his child. There was some deep part of her that knew that if she would just sleep with him once it would be enough. That in 9 months' time there would be a miniature Yoh in her arms to take care of._

_"Anna?"_

_She jumped at Yoh's voice, he had caught her off guard, why did she have to have those thoughts now? She pushed him away from her and turned her back on him and began making her way out the door, Yoh watched her, blinking in confusion. She stopped right at the door and looked back at him, her face stern to hide her embarrassment of her thoughts, "I'm going to the Inn early, I'll bid you goodbye when you come home. If you're late, I'll kill you." then she disappeared out into the hallway._

_Yoh simply laughed. Even when he made his way to the classroom he remained to have a large grin on his face. He sat down on a desk close to the window where he saw Anna making her way out of campus, Tamao trailing behind, "Well," he began completely at ease, "It's about time. I just got more information about the Shaman Fight from my oracle bell..." he paused for a moment and unconsciously thought of his experience in the locker room with Anna and grinned. "Ah...I'm kind of worried."_

_"YOU DON'T LOOK WORRIED AT ALL!"_

"Tamamura-san, you haven't left yet?"

Tamao jerk her mind from the painful memories and looked up, wondering at what moment someone has snuck up on her.

There with her long knee-length dark green hair, tan skin, and blue eyes stood none other than the school Hisho. The girl stared at Tamao in curiosity, "It's after school hours, Tamamura," she said in a sudden mature tone, "it'd be safer if you go home now before it gets dark."

Tamao did not want to leave yet. There was a part of her that thought that if she were to stay on campus someone would call her to go and be informed with the others. But she was not going to admit something so embarrasing to the Student Council Secretary. "Ano, I'm waiting for Pirika-chan." Which was not a lie.

"Usui Pirika? I saw her leave campus a while ago."

Tamao's heart sank. "Oh...then I guess I should go..." Ponchi and Konchi appeared at her side.

"Don't let this bitch push you around Tamao, FIGHT BACK!"

"Yeah, we'll help you take her down!""Heck, we'll even rape her!"

"Yeah!"

Tamao turned red from embarrassment of the barbaric this her spirits were yelling. She turned to look at the Hisho, who blinked at the pink haired girl and smiled, "Is something wrong?"

Tamao stood up and slowly shook her head. There was no way a human could've heared Ponchi and Konchi. "Iie...ano...I'll just leave then."

The Hisho watched as the pink haired girl scampered quickly to pick up her stuff from the ground and made sure that she made it out of campus before her eyes narrowed.

"Damn low class spirits," she growled, her voice several octives lower in pitch. She turned around and saw Usui Pirika walking towards her.

"Ano, suminasen! Have you seen a tall pink haired girl with short hair?" the anui girl shouted in question as she ran.

The Hisho softened her expression, "Tamamura Tamao? I'm sure she went back inside the building to speak to a teacher." she smiled "I'd help you look for her but I'm running an errand for a teacher myself."

Pirika shook her head, "It's fine, I'll go find her myself. Thank you!"

Hisho waved as Pirika walked around the corner of the school building. Once she out of sight, Hisho's expression hardenened once more, her eyes narrowing.

"If you make that face your feminism leaves you."

Hisho looked up to see a certain wine haired chinese woman with curls look down at her with her amber eyes from a second story window within the school. "I liked you better with your green eyes, Wilhelmina."

Wilhelmin narrowed her eyes "And I like you better as a girl. But we can't change what we have right, Nagehiko?"

"Hisho" smirked and grabbed a mess full of "her" green hair, pulling it off. A long green wig falling to the ground and long black locks taking its position on the head. Nagehiko watched Wilhelmina as she jumped from the window to the ground in front of him. She stared at him with bored eyes.

"I didn't believe Ari when she said you would help us." the chinese woman narrowed her eyes, "It's rather suspicious on your part."

Nagehiko sat down on the ground against the side of the building, his legs spread apart, showing his shorts under the skirt he wore. He rested his elbows on his knees and rested his head on the wall behind him, closing his eyes. "We all have reasons as to what we do." he opened his eyes, his gaze intense, "Five hundred years ago I watched the one I love suffer under the Asakuras. I want revenge, and I can obtain it by helping you three with your goal."

"I don't trust you. Even when you're in a skirt."

A rustle of leaves were heard. Large footprints walking among blades of grass, Wilhelmina shifted her gaze to her right, a large blob of white fur in her sight. Hoshi. The large artic bear was holding a brunette girl in his mouth's grasp. Nianna. The girl was unconscious, blood dripping from her head. Something a blow to the head would've caused. Nagehiko walked over to her, "Pity." he said, "I used to be very trustworthy."

Wilhelmina stared at the unconcious body. "What's this?"

Nagehiko smirked his eyes dark, "Food. For when the Rose blooms."

**...**

Tamao took the ridiculously long way back to the inn. She didn't want to be there, staring at the mural Jun had put on the living room wall, staring at the photo of Yoh's smile, pondering what the others were talking about.

She sighed as the inn came to view. She felt so pitiful.

Ponchi and Konchi were actually silent in their form as key chains on her school bag. Earlier on they had been protesting of whether she should to back to Shinra Private Academy, barge into the room where the others were and demand to know what was going on.

The pink haired girl was tempted to do so...

She opened the door to the inn, sliding it quietly so that she wouldn't disturb anyone in their work. Yet she found the house incredibly silent. She stepped inside, a fearful feeling striking her, "Asanoha-sama? Jane-sama? Pirika-chan?" she called cautiously.

No answer.

She stepped into the kitchen, found two piles of dirt in the middle of it. She stepped back slowly, the feeling that was passing through her wasn't a good one. "Ponchi, Konchi, what do you think those are?" she looked down at her school bag, found the keychains missing. Her eyes grew. "Ponchi? Konchi?" she called out in fear, "T-This isn't funny!"

"No. It isnt." Tamao turned around, found Emmetto sitting on the couch's frame, staring at her intensly, "The way you immediately cower in fear from the absense of people...its not funny, its sickening." his eyes softened a bit, giving his face a rather lazy expression, "Why don't you go back to your normal self?"

Tamao backed away slowly, her eyes growing as Emmetto came down from the couch and began walking towards her. He stopped only a few feet away, but he leaned in to look into her eyes. "W-what are you t-talking about?" she shouted.

"Do you not remember, Tamao?" asked Wilhelmina, suddenly appearing from the shadows behind her, "Remember the betrayal? The hatred?...Asakura Hao?"

"I don't know what you're talking about?" she yelled, grabbing her head as she felt her brain begin to throb against her head. The same as her heart did against her chest. Her wrist began to burn, she swallowed her screams of pain.

She felt a hand touch her head, looked up to see Wilhelmina looking at her with grave eyes, the Chinese woman did not back her hand away, her lips parted, "Then I'll make you remember."

—And the earth moved.

Images flashed through Tamao's mind, blinding her; a violent vertigo sending her reeling into darkness, something in her stomach lurched, another premonition. She felt a ghost of movement, before her and felt as as sheer crimsoned light spiraled through the darkness, shimmering in steep waves, a bloody palette of colors stroking light slowly took form, a gathering pressure of intense pinpricks, a man emerging, his face was dark, and ever so violent look on him that made him appear insane in rage. Tamao felt her heart leap as that man stared at her with a look of hate, and she felt her chest tighten for unknown reasons as she regognized the face.

Asakura Hao...

His face said it all, loathe. His gaze was telling her to die. Tamao felt like shouting something at him, and she felt her lips move along with the words she wanted to say. Hao looked at her and threw his hand at her.

Some strange light escaped from his hand in the form of a star and it slammed against her body, kicking the breathe from her lungs. She hit a wall, a huge hole being left in the shape of her body's impact. Then she felt her arms throw themselves backwards and stick to the wall. Then her wrist began to burn. She looked up, a ring of fire was pining down her each of wrist to the wall behind her, the flames turning her skin slowly to charcol as it melted slowly. The pain was escrutiating, so much so that Tamao began to bite on her lower lip to keep from screaming. Feeling a sense of pride bubble in her. She began to bite down so hard she could taste the saltiness of her blood on her tongue.

She heard Hao move, a wind blowing as he came closer to her, Tamao felt long strands of her hair touch the sides of her face, and she found those long locks utterly gentle verses the situation. It felt like someone caressing her face.

Hao stared at her, she could see her reflection in his eyes.

She was a stranger. A stranger that she felt knew more about her than she.

She felt her body move, sensed a sudden swarm of rage boil through her as she stared into those dark eyes. She exposed her teeth, gritting tightly to match the tightness of her chest. Her mouth opened, "I hate you."

He laughed. The pink hair girl wanted to spit at his face. She watched him as he laughed, its sound striking her like a dagger. He stopped and looked at her, amusement filling his face where his disgust used to be. "You could've at least made your last words more honest...Rose."That was it. The final thing she needed to fully feel enraged, hearing him call her what she used to be. Showing that she no longer held a place in his life. That he was going to fucking erase her from it.

Hao watched her intensly, as she felt her eyes burn, feeling something drip from them. Tears. Stupid. Fucking. Tears.

She felt his hand grab her cheek, pushing them off her face. She looked up. And saw the warmest pair of eyes in her life. Her tears stopped but she stared at those eyes knowing the source of them. Pity.

That was when her rage boiled, she threw her legs up, wrapping the around his body and closing it against her, crushing her lips on his. Pouring out all the love she had of him and replacing it with absolute rage. Something began to boil within her, the temperatures her body was reaching was that could only happen if she was being engulfed in flames.

Flames...

Fire.

She was on fire. Tamao screamed. She screamed until her eyes bulged, but she made no sound. Her throat was hostage. And like her voice, her body refused her. She could not move. Paralyzed, or maybe she was already dead and this was hell: forced to watch herself burn to ash, her life given up like a paper doll to a matchstick, some human sacrifice to the white-hot beast licking her eyes, melting her mouth, pushing deep inside her ears to roar like thunder; a sound to ride her terror upon as she silently screamed, screamed and screamed until something broke inside her head and shattered.

She felt her spirit split in two suddenly hearing a harsh raspy voice call, a demonic laugh echo within her head as if a King of Hell rejoiced, two large hands moving inside her chest, her soul, sinking into her splitting flesh. Rearranging. Changing something inside heart. She felt no pain, but she sensed something wrap tight around her hammering heart, and just like that, the fire boomed, puffed, the pressure eased. There was a new presence in her mind and heart, small as a spark, suddenly expanding like a rose in bloom. The world collapsed into darkness, as so did her soul.

And so she awoke once more...

* * *

**REVIEW!**


	20. ANOTHER AUTHOR'S NOTE

**Hello everyone, This is CrysitaNaima [Formally known as YohAnna4eva] once again. Sorry this is not a new chapter. You can kill the review board with comments on how I should die by making you suffer this way. Forgive me. This new Author's note is to state that this story is going** under editing**. I've been reading some of my chapters and I don't like the way I've written some things so I'm going to go back and change a few things. First off I might tell you that I'm going to change the fact that Annaka is pregnant, cause it's not going to fit on where I want this story to go. So heads up on that. Everything else will remain the same, I just want to add a few details here and there nothing major. The new chapter should be up soon since I'm almost done with it and you guys have responded nicely to the whole 146 reviews. Sorry to ask you guys for that favor [Especially you I_Am_Tao_Ren, whom i've seemed to anger the most. Sorry dude.]**

**You can hate me all you want but I really feel I need to edit this story cause when I read it I was like "GEEZ HOW CAN MY READERS LIKE THIS!" so to make it better for you all I'll work my hardest.**

**Oh also instead of that website with the Shaman Files I told you guys, I'm going to post several pictures of the characters on my new Deviant Art. [I'm new to Deviant Art so I've only got two drawings.] if you go to **crysitanaima . deviantart .com** then you'll see my pics of Annaka and Annai from the Hoshi No Kissu Arc. My picture of Anna-chan from the Thousand Paper Cranes Arc will go up soon.**

**Sorry about this guys. But no worries, editing or not, the story will go on!**

**The cruel author,**

**CrysitaNaima**


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